Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Suburban Brawlers
by JojoTeck
Summary: Jordan Johannes is a freshman in high school and stand user from birth who wants nothing more than a clean slate to start making friends. He gets his wish when he moves to the mysterious coastal town of Riverford, but quickly finds that the locals aren't too happy with outsiders. It's up to Jordan and his stand, CHAMPION, to solve the mysteries of Riverford.
1. Intro

Ever since Jordan Johannes was a young man, no matter how bad things got, he always had his Champion. A shining light in the darkness, a force for good, a guardian angel. And things did get bad. Jordan's mom was a bit poor for a while, and his dad died during a mugging. The mugger died, too, though. A way of saying "you should see the other guy" from the grave.

He first saw his champion while watching WWE as a child. He looks similar to them. His face is like an ornate red wrestling mask, his hands and feet are covered in red gloves and boots, any clothes on the vaguely human body are bright and shiny, and a golden belt, similar to a championship belt, is spread across his middle.

Jordan usually kept his champion to himself. There was no need to show everyone. Not that he could; nobody else could see it. But he wasn't crazy, not by a long shot. It was there. He could command his champion to pick things up, to break things, to move things and do his chores in seconds, chores which would usually take him half an hour. And when he did, the lights flickered brighter. The TV flipped through channels. The car alarms went off.

Jordan always kept to himself. He only needed his champion, after all. So when his mother began to move out of their old neighborhood, and to an interesting little town on the coast of California, well he didn't need much convincing. He wasn't leaving something behind.

Becoming a freshman in high school was supposed to be a new start, anyway. Maybe he could reach out. Maybe he could be known as something more than the weird quiet kid who occasionally does party tricks. This time, Jordan decided, he would be more than quiet.

He would make friends. He would atone for the loneliness he put himself in. He would make sure everyone can call him a friend.


	2. Enter Jordan Johannes

On the way to Jordan's new school, there were at least three of Riverford's famed "supernatural spots." He passed a tree that looked like it had a man trapped inside of it due to how the bark looked like a face, a hotel said to be haunted due to the simultaneous deaths of three men at a dining table, and the river tunnels said to house mole men. Jordan doesn't have reason to believe any of them, as a town that doesn't have anything else interesting to it, naturally, makes things up so people come to see it.

But this town is interesting. It has a redwood forest right next to it, after all. A hiking trail with several beautiful waterfalls lies just outside of the city's borders. A colony of the near extinct brown bears can be found there, fiercely protected by the rangers around the town. This is a nice place to live, by all measurable means.

The only reason that Jordan can live in a house on a coastal californian town right next to a redwood forest is due to the untimely death of a man in his new house. All that Jordan knew was that he was brutally stabbed in the gut with some huge knife.

It took about 20 gruelling minutes to walk from his new house to his new school. The parking lot was jammed with senior and staff cars. Many students entered the grounds of the school under the large banner reading, "Welcome, class of 2004!"

It was at that moment that Jordan was reminded that he was fresh meat. Not just as a freshman, but he was new to the whole town as well. He's seen a lot of movies; being new means being targeted by bullies. Not that Jordan was afraid of bullies-he had a guardian angel, after all-but that guardian angel was the problem. Champion does not wait for Jordan's command to protect him from an attack. Whether it's a wedgie or a swirlie, they would get punched by what is essentially a ghost that causes small blackouts. Then he'd have to explain that.

He walked as calmly as possible to his first class, peering at his fellow students through his thin glasses. He expected none of them to notice him. But as if he was somehow standing out of the crowd, he got many sneering looks. He looked down. He was wearing a normal dark red jacket, jeans, and a gray shirt. He wasn't wearing anything crazy. Not all of them were staring, as most were just minding their own business, but he still got looks. He did his best to ignore them. He kept his eyes straight and walked just a bit faster.

The trend continued throughout the next four periods. Not everyone noticed him, but he caught at least two people giving him that same look. It was different at lunch.

While on the way to a secluded spot to eat, he was put to an abrupt stop. The momentum of his body came to a halt, the foot he was stepping with coming up into a kick as it continued without him. He could feel his shoulder firmly grappled.

Jordan spun to meet his assailant. He was large, probably an adult by now, at least legally speaking. He had a militaristic buzz cut, wore a football jacket, and of course had finely toned muscles. Jordan could feel himself under immense pressure.

"You're new here, aren't you?" He asked.

Jordan gulped, "Yeah, I'm a freshman."

He leaned in on Jordan, causing him to slink back. He tried to leave, but this senior was still holding his shoulder. "I didn't mean to the school," He said, "Us here in Riverford don't like outsiders."

"Uhh-" Jordan stammered, "I'm sorry, I don't-"

"I ain't looking for an apology," He gripped Jordan's shoulder tighter, and Jordan winced as quietly as he could. The senior continued, "I'm looking to make sure you don't cause any trouble, you hear?"

"I wo-"

"_Outsiders_ bring bullshit, you understand," He grabbed Jordan's other shoulder, "WHAT BULLSHIT ARE YOU BRINGING, KID?!"

"I-I-I'm not-" Jordan could barely speak.

"Roman, cut the shit."

The senior spun around, clenching his teeth. Behind him was not a teacher, like Jordan expected, but another student. Another jock, it seemed. He was different, though. He had more hair, for one. Spiky and crazier. He had a trimmed beard, too. He was just wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Perfectly normal guy. Yet the crowd parted for him.

Roman let go of Jordan. "Victor," He said, "He's bringing bullshit."

Victor squinted at him, "The fuck you mean 'bullshit?' You're being an idiot again," With complete disrespect, he shoved Roman to the side. He also towered over Jordan, so it didn't feel less intimidating.

"Hi," Said Jordan.

"Hey," Victor said, "Relax. Roman's an idiot. Most people are idiots. This town has some sort of weird curse with outsiders," He looked over at Roman, "Not that it's real, but a lot of people are superstitious," He looked back at Jordan, "Just don't cause trouble, ok?"

Jordan agreed. Victor left him, and as he walked away, he saw that like a school of fish avoiding a shark, they separated. They funneled around him, and came back together right around Jordan. The jocks glared at him and bumped into him as they walked past.

But this is only a setback. He might not be able to be friends with jocks, but he can be friends with someone else. _Yes_, he thought, _I will not sit along at the edge of school. I will find a place to sit, I will sit down, I will easily and slickly integrate into their conversation with natural charisma, and I can, for the first time in my life, make friends!_

"I don't let outsiders sit at my table!" Screamed the leader of the skater kids, one of the many apparent factions at this damned school, "I, Donny Falcon, will not let your curse bring down my style!" He had been rejected about six times, but Jordan had not once heard his rejectors refer to themselves in the third person.

Then the bell rang. Jordan hadn't even eaten his food yet, since he was banking on finding people to sit with. He stood there, watching students pass him on their way to the next class with their big groups of friends. And he stood alone.

He took a baseball cap out of his backpack, and slouched it over his head. The guard would prevent him from making eye contact with anybody.

Then someone tapped him on the shoulder. Jordan turned around to see a pimpled, long-haired kid standing there. Before Jordan could say something, he spoke up, "I see you're having trouble getting along with people." Jordan could feel his emotions coming back up from the dirt once he said that. He continued, "Meet in room 2-B of the library after school. We play smash sometimes after school. You're welcome to join."

Jordan contained his excitement. "Thanks!" He sputtered out, "But uh...what's Smash Bros?"

The kid raised his eyebrow at Jordan, "Listen, you'd best pretend you know what that is, or you won't fit in with us either."

Room 2B of the library was in the back, and was used for the Game club. Jordan knew video games to be somewhat of a taboo hobby, but he was a taboo person, so it seemed like a good fit.

He opened the creaking door to room 2B, having to lean his weight against it to grind it open. In the room were eight people, two playing Smash, two playing battleship, and the rest playing some esoteric card game Jordan couldn't even recognize. They all turned and stared at him. Jordan felt pressure on his chest and neck. They were already skeptical of him. Just like the rest of the town, they weren't sure if they wanted to have him around.

But Jordan was determined. He swallowed his nervousness. He said to them, "Hi. I'm Jordan...I'm gonna be honest, I was told to come here because nobody else really wanted to talk to me. I was...kind of assaulted by this guy named Roman."

Some of them laughed. The only girl in the room groaned, "God, _Roman_. Did you smell his breath?"

"Obviously not, he's standing here, not in the ER," Said another kid. Laughs filled the room, and Jordan laughed, too. He had gotten through introductions.

Jordan realized he didn't really know how to do the rest of it. He didn't know how to integrate into conversation, or how to seem clever, or how to get out of the spotlight when there are seven people looking at him.

It was really easy to get out of the spotlight, actually. People just stopped looking at him and went on their way. In a sense, this was a kind of acceptance. They didn't reject him, at least.

Jordan decided to sit down with the ones playing the card game, and learned it was called Magic. They explained some of the complex rules as they continued, and Jordan was striking up minor conversations. He felt he was getting there. Like his goal was...attainable. Maybe not yet close, but attainable.

Then the door came open again. The conversations stopped as everyone looked to the door. Pushing open the door with one hand was a rotund kid, with thick round glasses and a blue collared shirt. He instantly stared at Jordan.

The pimply kid walked up to the one that just came in. He said, "Melvin, this is Jordan. He's new to town, and it didn't seem like he'd fit in anywhere else."

Melvin snorted at that. Jordan felt that the little progress he made was about to be taken away.

"Zeke," Melvin hissed, "You let a new kid in here just because he didn't find any friends yet?"

Zeke rubbed his neck. He stammered, "Well, it's just that everyone seemed to reject him-"

"_Reject_?" Melvin mocked, "_We're _the rejects! We're nerds! We're losers! We can't just let anyone else in here! We have a culture to preserve!"

"Hey," Jordan stood up, "If this is about that 'outsider curse' or whatever-"

"It's not about the curse!" Melvin pointed at him accusingly, "I don't know what kind of person you are! Do you even know what Magic _or_ Smash Bros is?"

Jordan itched at his neck and mumbled, "_well, I just found out what magic is_."

"_OH_!" Melvin threw his hands up, "So you don't know! What about D&D? Star fox? Have you ever even watched Star Trek? Have you even completed a pokemon game? You've probably never even played a strategy game." He crossed his arms, scoffing at Jordan.

Jordan felt as if he were on trial. He moved his mouth, but no words came out. He wasn't confrontational, that was Champion's job. And he couldn't help in a battle of words.

"You don't need to know those kinds of things to be a reject!" Jordan retorted. It was the best he got.

"What do you even _do_? If you're really that much of a loner, you must have some hobby that we know of!"

Then Jordan snapped. In a crackly, puberty-driven voice, he yelled, "Fuck you, man!" Melvin recoiled, "I've been trying to just _talk _to someone all day. I've been shunned from every goddamn group in the school, and these guys are close to letting me in, and then _you _decide to act like the gatekeeper and critique me for not playing the exact games you did!"

Melvin felt threatened, and like a cornered animal, he yelled, "It's not about me! How do I know you're not like every other jock and normie!"

"_Me_? With how you're acting, you're no better than Roman!"

Silence.

What Jordan said seemed to take it too far. The argument had everyone staring at them, but now they were all staring at each other. And Melvin stood there, silent and calculating. His fleshy fists were clenched. His white teeth grinded against each other.

"Get out," Melvin commanded.

Jordan looked at his feet. He felt an immense amount of shame. _Rejected by the rejects, _he thought, _I shouldn't have even tried confrontation. My loneliness will be no one's fault but my own_. He took a step forward.

"Not you," Melvin looked to the rest of the club, "All of you! OUT NOW!"

The games were left paused in their place. Everyone scrambled out, following Melvin's demands. Jordan was dumbfounded, seeing teenagers follow one short sophomore with so much fear.

And so, it was Jordan and Melvin, standing off in a room. Melvin clicked his tongue and sighed. "Listen Jordan," He said, "There's something you need to know: In this school, and in this town, things work in a few certain ways." He took a step closer to Jordan, "There are cliques. Some are big, some are small, but cliques are cliques, and they like to be segregated."

Jordan chuckled nervously, "Are you being serious? This sounds...fake."

Melvin squinted at him, "What do you mean?"

Jordan shook his head, "I just...you know, I thought all those high school movies were, you know, exaggerated. I didn't think that these kind of cliques were real."

"This is just the normal way of things," Melvin asserted, "If you can't fit into a clique, that's your problem."

Jordan swallowed his fear again, and decided to take this seriously, "It seems like you're the one who has the problem. Those rejects seemed to be ok, the problem seems to be with you."

Melvin took a deep sigh, and said to him, "And when you threaten the leader of a clique...then you have to be put in your place." Jordan saw Melvin's eyes. They were green, but he saw a glint of something else.

What Melvin was saying was ridiculous to Jordan. Idiotic, really. But Melvin was serious about it.

Then, he heard the sound of a motor, and tires grinding against the ground. From behind Melvin, a cloud of dust flew into the air. Spinning around Melvin, Jordan saw a small, blue monster truck drifting around him and creating clouds of dirt and smoke.

"Is that a toy?!" Jordan exclaimed.

Melvin didn't respond with an answer, but with a more exclamatory question, "You can see it?!"

"Well, yeah!" Jordan pointed at it, "It's a toy, people can usually see toys!"

The monster truck stopped abruptly. Melvin looked confused. "Do you know what a stand is?"

Jordan blinked. He didn't answer for a few seconds. "Like a...music stand?" He asked.

"Wha ...what?!" Melvin babbled incoherently, "Do you even-...ugh!" He rubbed his forehead in frustration, "Ok, I'm going to get this over with."

The engine on the monster truck sputtered to life, and it charged forward, leaving a streak of blue light and a cloud in its wake. Jordan was able to kick up his foot before he was hit by the toy. It continued to crash into the wall behind jordan, shattering the wall, and breaking the wood into splinters.

"Hey, are you ok in there?" Called one of the club members from outside.

"GO AWAY!" Melvin screamed.

Jordan stared at the monster truck, which was struggling to use its wheels to get back in the right position to drive back at Jordan. Jordan thought, _did that thing just break the wall? No, it couldn't have. It's a toy! _

But Jordan's denial didn't help him when it came speeding at him again. It charged forward, then leapt off the ground without warning or reason. He was able to catch it, but it was pressed against his chest and shoulders. The grips on the wheels ground into his skin, no matter how much Jordan tried to push it away. He thought, _It doesn't make sense. It's pushing into me, but nothing's pushing it._

"There's no use resisting!" Melvin shouted, "My stand, **Shiny Toys**, is not only powerful, but holds multiple abilities that I can use at any moment to defeat you!" He cackled at him, "I bet you don't even know how to use-"

His taunting was cut off when the TV released a sudden _SCREEEEEE _while it cut to bright static, just as the lights of the room began to flicker wildly.

"I...I don't know what a stand is," Jordan gasped. Around his body was a clear, blue light paired with streaks of lightning that cascaded off his skin. He seemed strangely calm now, despite the flesh on his chest threatening to be torn off, "But I do have a guardian angel."

Then the light was given form. A humanoid with red gloves and boots, a face like a luchador mask with ornate patterns that flow across the body like tattoos. It cocked a fist back, and in less than a second later, the monster truck was launched like a cannonball through the only window in the room, out of sight and out of mind. Jordan turned back to Melvin, holding the bloodied part of his chest and standing proud.

"This is my guardian angel, **CHAMPION**!"


	3. Show me your shiny toys

Melvin clapped slowly for Jordan, "Oh, how amazing. You finally got your stand out _after _I attacked you."

"Sorry if I don't know how this works," Jordan groaned, "You're the first stand user I've met."

"You met Roman, didn't you?"

"He has one, too?!" Jordan didn't want to imagine the stand that he would have. Now he was even more glad he didn't get into a fight with _that_ guy.

"It was inevitable that you would meet one, anyway," Melvin said to snap Jordan out of his own head, "Stand users are drawn to each other. That's probably what drew you to this town in the first place."

Jordan paused, "How does that work?"

"Stands are instruments of fate," Melvin explained, "As well as manifestations of our fighting spirit."

"Is your fighting spirit one weak toy?" Jordan mocked.

Melvin laughed with confidence, "Ho ho! Let me tell you something: The only reason that stands would be that small is if they have the power to make it viable, or if it's a part of a group."

_Oh no_, Jordan thought, _part of a group_?

Melvin cackled, and stretched out his arms. Similar to Jordan, a wild green aura surrounded Melvin. "Now, face the true power of my stand! **SHINY TOYS**!"

Coming from the aura, Jordan saw many new additions to his arsenal. A helicopter, a biplane, a tank, a small company of toy soldiers, five race cars, and a boat that...wasn't doing anything because it was on land.

"I'm glad you didn't open with that," Jordan admitted, "Though I wish I wasn't fighting you at all."

Melvin ignored his comment, "I thought being an outsider was bad enough. But not only are you an outsider, but an outsider with a stand! I'll be doing this town a service by making sure you can't use that stand again! **SHINY TOYS**! Rip him to shreds!"

The biplane and helicopter fired missiles as the soldier company let out a volley of shots. The racecars came jumping at him just like the monster truck, and the tank fired explosive shells at him. Champion hovered in front of Jordan, attempting to tank the damage, but the sheer amount of attacks was too much. Jordan's torso broke open with welts, large cuts, and small bullet holes all around.

Jordan let his body fall through the broken window and landed on the pavement. He saw streaks of green projectiles fly from the window above him. He struggled to bring his body onto his feet. He coughed up blood a few times.

"What the fuck?" He asked himself, "How is it possible that this is happening to me?" He yelled out in pain as he lifted his body upward, crawling away from the window.

Melvin groaned as he stretched himself out of the window. "I told you," He said, "Stand users are drawn to each other."

Jordan watched as Melvin took a few steps closer. Once he was three steps away from the wall, Jordan yelled out, "Stop right there!"

Melvin stopped, but still asked, "Why? Are you threatening me?"

"**Champion **can only get about a foot away from me," He warned, "If you get any closer, he'll beat you up."

"'He?' Your stand isn't a person, it's an _it_." He walked closer, getting about two feet away, "Just so you know, stands like mine only get faster the closer they are to me. That means, that even at this range, I can beat you up-"

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!**"

Melvin was knocked across the courtyard, spiralling through the air once he hit a patch of grass near the outside eating area of the school. He was bloodied, and the entire front of his body was aching.

"You motherfucker!" Melvin pounded his fist on the grass, "You lied about your range, you conniving bastard!"

Jordan, who was still bleeding himself, began to laugh at Melvin's misfortune, "Weren't you bragging about how you could beat me up even at that range?"

Melvin's green aura appeared around him again. Around him appeared the race cars and single monster truck from before. He lifted his body up and dropped himself onto the cars. Jordan watched as Melvin was driven off by a bunch of RC vehicles.

Jordan, on the other hand, laid back and allowed **Champion **to poke each one of the wounds he gained from the fight. Lightning reached out of its fingertips, and sealed the flesh back together with no scars or markings. It was very slow, but it was effective if Jordan allowed it.

He got back up, and dusted himself off. "Thank god my jacket is already red. Now I can just close it so nobody can see the immense amount of blood on my shirt."

Then he heard something from the gaming room. The door opening. That was when Jordan decided it was time to leave.

The lawn of Jordan's new house was still dotted with boxes, even after about a month of moving in. Those were mostly decorations that they hadn't put in yet. Things like posters, pictures, and souvenirs that Jordan and his mom, Rose, were procrastinating putting in the house.

"Jojo!" Rose exploded from the doorway at the sight of Jordan. Before he could wave back to her, she came barrelling after him, and swept him into an aggressive hug. Jordan stood passively as their glasses clicked together, his face was covered in her hair, and he was showered by motherly kisses.

She broke from the hug and immediately switched focus, "Hey, there's still some stuff on the lawn, huh? You don't have any homework, do you?"

"No."

"Then will you _please _help me move it in?" She began to pick one up. Jordan picked up one, too.

When he got inside, Rose asked the burning question, "So how was the first day of school?"

Jordan sighed quietly and said, "Good, I guess."

"Did you make any new friends?"

"...No."

"Aw!" As Jordan turned around, Rose hugged him again, "I promise it'll get easier. You're amazing and anyone that doesn't want to be friends with you is making a mistake."

Jordan didn't say anything back. During the hug, his eyes wandered up to the vent. He saw some figures coming down from the vent and onto a shelf of pictures. Were they ants? He couldn't tell.

Rose let him go, and walked to the lawn to get another item. Jordan didn't follow her out. He remembered those soldiers that Melvin had back when he blew him out of a window.

Jordan wasn't quite tall enough to see on top of the shelf, but he tried. First, he put his hand up there and dragged it along in front of the pictures to see if he felt anything. Nothing. Then, he slowly lifted himself up so that his eyes would peek just over the edge.

Staring back at him was, indeed, a tiny toy soldier. In a strange way, he seemed just as surprised to see Jordan staring at him. The tiny soldier raised his tiny gun up to his tiny shoulder and aimed at Jordan's eyeball.

"What are you looking at?"

Jordan spun his head back to look at Rose. Green pellets shot through the air and cut off a few strands of Rose's hair. She didn't even notice. Jordan dropped from his toes and got his head below the shelf.

"There was a ..._spider_."

"Oh?" Rose actually loves bugs.

"It's gone now."

"Aw," She turned to the kitchen, "Well, as much as I'd like to see it, there's still work to do."

_Shit! _He thought, _why do I gotta be fighting in my own house?_

He clenched his fist, and began to summon **Champion **to end this problem now. But as he was just getting _ready _to summon his stand, the light bulb in the living room flickered just for a moment.

Now, Jordan's mom is a strict skeptic. She doesn't believe in ghosts, nor God, nor spooks, nor specters, so if he told his mom that he had a punching ghost, she would probably think he has a mental disorder before believing him. Not that she doesn't trust him, but she wouldn't just believe him due to the sole fact that she gave birth to him.

Jordan _could _just...prove it to her by, say, juggling with his stand, but he's far too socially awkward for that. Instead, he decided that he would save his mom subtly.

_Convincing her would be a whole thing anyway, _Jordan thought, _it's only a few tiny soldiers. How hard can it be? _

Rose went outside to get something else, expecting Jordan to follow. He yelled, "Coming!" And waited for her to be outside of earshot of the room. Once she was a few feet away, he summoned **Champion**. His stand rose out of his body surrounded by blue sparks and lightning bolts. The light bulb audibly hummed as it became bright enough to obscure the room. The bulb only did this for a moment, as Champion immediately turned around and flicked each one of the soldiers into the wall with a quiet _**yatatata**_. They couldn't even react fast enough to avoid it.

Then **Champion** disappeared. The bulb went back to normal energy levels, and Jordan followed his mom out the door. _That was smooth, _he thought, _but I saw a lot more soldiers back at school. I hope there aren't anymore. _

"Hey, Jojo, can you please carry this box of wine glasses into the kitchen?" Rose asked, not waiting for the answer before dropping it into his arms, "Be careful, they're fragile and I spent good money on those."

_Shit!_

"Yeah that's fine," Jordan began his journey to the kitchen. He only needed to take a left turn from the front door to get into the kitchen. So he took a step through the front door, and quickly looked at his surroundings. So he went to the left, and went to walk into the kitchen.

They didn't even bother hiding themselves. Dozens of tiny soldiers were lined on top of the cupboards, ready for Jordan. At least they didn't shoot his mom once she came in the room. His mom was right behind him, about to enter the house with her own box.

_Fuck it, _Jordan thought, _I don't have any other options! _

Every light in the living room and kitchen flared up into a blinding light. **Champion **emerged from Jordan's body once again, its arms already in a position to block. Green tracers came flying from the firing line of soldiers, hitting **Champion's **body. Jordan could feel his own skin tear, and he bit his cheek in order to keep from yelping in pain.

"Woah, what is going on in here?" Rose asked, seeing the flaring lights.

"P-Power surge!" Jordan squeaked.

Jordan was trying to keep cool, but he couldn't really do much while he was being actively shot at by a firing line. Try as he might, he could not keep back wincing from the pain.

Rose started to walk over to him, "Hey, are you ok?"

Then Jordan saw one of the green tracers zoom by his face. He whipped his head around to see it hit his mother right in the shoulder. She immediately dropped her box, and grabbed at her shoulder.

"_What the hell?!_" She screamed.

Jordan took this moment to charge forward, getting the soldiers in range of **Champion**, and swiping them off of the cupboard, sending them into the air. Then he punched each one of them until their toy limbs broke off the bodies.

Then he set the wine glasses on the counter.

"Jordan!" Rose screamed, "Something...I don't know what happened, but I'm bleeding!"

"I'll get a band-aid!" He yelled back. He wished he could heal other people with **Champion**.

**Stand user: Jordan Johannes**

**Stand: Champion**

**Power: C**

**Speed: A**

**Durability: D**

**Precision: A**

**Range: D**

**Potential: B**

**Ability: ?**

Melvin has a lair. It's not an elaborate one, but it's his. He rests at the edge of his attic, sitting upon a large, comfy swivel chair in front of a TV and computer set-up. His desk houses video games, board games, modules for tabletop games, and a variety of consoles all hooked up to the same power strip for which he uses to pass the time.

He munches loudly on salty potato chips while playing Donkey Kong 64. In between munches, he speaks into his flip phone to an unknown ally.

"Yeah...Pretty fast…Not too tough...Yeah, you just gotta stay away...Like, five feet or so. I don't really know, he pulled a fast one on me and lied about his range," Break to shovel chips into his mouth and listen, "...No, no _major _abilities, but he glitched out the TV in the gaming club when he summoned i-Hold on, my mom is knocking." He put the phone on mute, "_WHAT IS IT MOM I'M ON THE PHONE!" _

His mom, from under the cellar door, "_oh, um...it's just that...someone's come to see you-_"

"I DIDN'T INVITE ANYONE!" He screamed.

Then the door dropped. Climbing up the steps into the attic was none other than Jordan Johannes. He said in a perfectly convincing tone, "I just thought you'd be happy to see me."

Melvin grimaced. He said into the phone, "Donny, I'll call you back." He paused his game. He fully turned in his swivel chair to see Jordan. Jordan was lifting the stairs to the attic back up. He put the tips of his fingers together, and slouched back.

"How'd you find me?" Melvin asked.

"How'd _you _find me?"

Melvin clicked his tongue, "Fair enough. My soldiers followed you."

"Oh," Jordan laughed, "I followed your soldiers here."

Melvin let out a sarcastic cackle, trying to keep cool, but clearly uncomfortable by the situation, "So what's the deal? Why come here to-"

"You see how I didn't beat the shit out of your mom while I came up here?"

"Ok, _that's _assertive-"

"You hurt my mom," Jordan glared at his foe, "She's not a stand user."

"_I _didn't do anything! My stands did!"

"Stands are a manifestation of one's fighting spirit, are they not?" Jordan hissed. That made Melvin recoil in his seat.

Melvin clenched his teeth, "So what are you going to do about it? You gonna take revenge?"

Jordan scoffed, "It's not noble. But yeah, you overstepped," He looked around the room. Other than Melvin's stuff, there was some storage laid about the place, "So here's what I'm thinking-" He laughed, "So you hit me out of a window the first time we met. So I think, to enact my revenge, I'm going to blow you out of a window, too." Jordan lifted up his finger, and pointed to the circular window right above Melvin, "Look. There's even a window shaped like you."

Melvin slammed his hands against the bars of his chair, and his entire body was shrouded in the deep green aura of his stand. "**SHINY TOYS**!" He shouted, "Kill him! Kill him now!"

Jordan charged forward, shrouded in an aura of his own. The lights flared, and the screen of Melvin's TVs began to glitch out due to the excess power. Melvin's army emerged from his body, and bullets of green came at him in a typhoon of power. Once again, **Champion **blocked most of it, though Jordan's body suffered under the pressure.

"You're weak, Johannes! Weak!" Melvin's heavier stands shot explosives and missiles at his legs, sweeping him off the ground and sending him colliding into the wood floor of the attic. In one simple move, Jordan was defenseless.

Melvin slouched back, losing the anxiety he just built, "You gotta get better at this," He mocked, "Already eating shit from my first volley. What kind of idiot charges into enemy fire? _HEHEHEHEHEEEE!_" He cackled at Jordan's failure.

But Jordan wasn't focusing on Melvin. He was crawling off to the wall, trying to get ever closer to his target: An outlet on the wall. As he got closer, he told Melvin, "I'd only walk into enemy fire if it would lead me to victory."

Melvin snorted, "What are you going on about?"

Jordan put his hand against the outlet. Then, **Champion **rose out of body once again. The lightning and sparks were more controlled than before, and Melvin's stuff didn't even begin to glitch out. But energy always has to go somewhere. Struggling to contain its own energy, **Champion **pushed the stand power into his fist, and swung it into the wall. All the electric power of the stand was squeezed into the outlet.

"Melvin," Jordan panted, "When I say I'm going to do something, I _will _do it."

Melvin heard something from his setup. He turned to see sparks coming from plugs, to see his TVs glitching once again, and all of his electronics surrounded in a field of blue electricity.

Then, Melvin watched as all of his games and entertainment went up in a colorful explosion.

Glass dug into his body from the screens, and bits of game cartridges flew out like dust in the wind. And as Melvin was launched from his seat, he landed right in front of Jordan Johannes. For a moment, they locked eyes.

"Do you remember what I said earlier?" Jordan asked.

Melvin's mouth quivered, but he was able to get words out, "That I...hurt your mom?"

"After that."

"That you walk into enemy fire?"

"Before that."

Melvin cringed thinking about it, "...That…you...were gonna send me through a w-"

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA! YATA!**"

And so, Melvin went spiralling through the circular window above his setup. His screams echoing across the horizon. Then, like a rock, he dropped into a convenient pile of leaves, though they didn't break his fall much.

"Melvin! My baby, are you ok?!" His mom ran out to see him.

Jordan breathed a sigh of relief, and was glad his mom never asked for his name. He left the house as soon as possible, though that may have been the wrong choice. As Jordan left, something came trickling out of Melvin's ear.

Not blood from the battle. A bunch of tiny cubes.


	4. Skate or Die!

(A/N: Man, writer's block is a real bitch, ain't it?)

It had been about a week since Melvin nearly killed Jordan, and Jordan punched him out of a window. Since then, Jordan hadn't made any more effort to reach out to people in the school. The enthusiasm he brought with him the first day that he built up over the summer had vanished.

Jordan was making his way to the back of the school for lunch. He knew that the people around these tables won't be interested in talking to him. Then someone called out his name.

"Hey, Jordan!"

Jordan turned to the voice. And sitting on top of a table was a kid in a jean jacket and sunglasses. His name was Donny Falcon, which Jordan knew on account of the fact that he spoke about himself in third person before.

Donny Falcon strolled over to Jordan, leaving his crew at the table. "So you got a stand, right?"

"...Wha-"

"Woah!" Donny put a hand on Jordan's shoulder, "Relax, man. You looked like you were gonna lose it when I said that." He laughed, "Look, us stand users are kind of like our own _special _club." When he said that, Jordan could swear that one of his teeth twinkled through his smile.

"How do you know about me, though?" Jordan asked.

"Melvin told me."

Figures. Jordan was intrigued by this idea of a secret stand user club, "So...why did Melvin attack me?"

Donny winced, "Well...you see, Melvin…" He struggled to say it, "He's a bit mental, you feel? He didn't want to get overshadowed by some newcomer."

Jordan sighed, "So it's all about that newcomer thing, huh?"

"Sadly so," Donny said, "But get this, ok? I'll take you to meet some other stand users."

Jordan felt something in his chest. But he kept it cool, "So...like, a group of people together?"

"Yep."

"A bunch of people...like me?"

"Yeah."

"That...are ready...to accept me?"

"Yeah."

"And like...be friends?"

Donny found that one a bit weird, "I guess?"

Jordan contained his excitement while he said, "Yeah, that would be ok."

Donny patted Jordan's back with a charming smile, "Cool, dude. I'll give you the details later, capiche?" Before Jordan could agree, Donny turned and went back to his table.

_Thank god_, Jordan thought, _I thought that stand users were all gonna hate me and I would have to fight them one by one. That would be weird. _

After school, Jordan went to a little shop by his house. It was a convenience store, nothing much. He got himself some reece's and walked through the automatic doors, only to lay his eyes upon an interesting sight: Melvin Morranis.

Jordan just stared at him. Not even getting out his stand, just waiting for Melvin to say something. It seemed Melvin was in the same state of mind. He looked around as if there was anything else that Jordan would be looking at.

"So…" Melvin sniffed, "Nice day, huh? It seems to be a wonderful day, here in Riverford…"

The only sounds were the cars driving past and the crinking of Jordan opening his reese's.

Jordan said with a peanut butter cup in his mouth, "Look man, I'm sorry about knocking you out of a window."

"No, no…" Melvin waved his hand, "I knocked you out of one first."

A man walked by them into the store, giving them a stink-eye.

Jordan swallowed, "Yeah but I _really _knocked you out of your window. I only fell a few feet, but you were knocked down a whole floor of your house-wait, _how are you perfectly fine?_"

Melvin conjured a tiny ambulance on the palm of his hand, "I can make ten of these. They have a bunch of tiny doctors."

Another customer walked in looking at them crazy. They decided to move the conversation to the corner of the store.

"Look, you already apologized, but…" Melvin shook his head, "I want to say sorry, too. I can't really explain how, but-"

"I understand."

Melvin blinked, "What?"

"Donny told me," Jordan explained, "Look, I get it. I feel the same way."

Melvin squinted at Jordan, "Wait, what did Donny tell you?"

"You're insecure about your stand user friends," Before Melvin could interject he continued, "Look, the entire time that I was fighting you, the reason I went into your club at all, was because I was desperate to find friends of my own. I was willing to do anything to get accepted."

"Wait, wait, wait-" Melvin held up his hands, "You don't understand."

"I do," Jordan grabbed Melvin's hand in a show of friendship, "I'm the only one who does. Melvin, we have similar goals. I'm sure that you were desperate to find friends of your own and when I showed up, you felt threatened."

Melvin grabbed Jordan by the shoulders, and pulled him down, "Listen to me, Jordan," Melvin said with a whisper, "Donny Falcon is lying to you."

Jordan was taken aback, "No. He's my friend."

"He is _not_," Melvin said, "When I...hated you, I guess, I called him because I knew that he would help me take you down."

Jordan pushed Melvin away, "Yeah. But you attacked me the first chance you got, and Donny offered to help me."

Melvin groaned, "No, Donny Falcon is a manipulative bastard. The most manipulative I know. He's using your naivety to do exactly what I wanted to do."

"No!" Jordan yelled, "He's the only one to treat me like a person so far! Just because the stand users don't like you and you're lonely doesn't mean I can't make friends!"

"Dude, I'm not lonely," Melvin said, "I'm the leader of a club and I have a girlfriend, I'm not the one here who's having a loneliness problem. Donny is using that to his advantage, and he will beat you once he gets the chance."

"If everything's going so well for you, why'd you try to _kill me_?" Jordan sneered at him.

"I don't know!" Melvin whined, "I just don't know! Look, what you said made sense. This doesn't seem real. This clique thing, this hatred of outsiders, my unreasonable answer-none of it makes sense!" He rubbed his eyes, "It's like, when you beat me up, everything became clearer."

Jordan didn't know how to react to this confession. After a few moments of silence, Jordan said, "Maybe that's just a you problem. It seems like other people don't treat newcomers the way you do." Jordan started to walk away.

"No, no," Melvin stammered, "You have to-"

"And if that doesn't make sense," Jordan looked at Melvin, "Then maybe I have to beat you up again."

As Jordan walked away, he realized that he had been clenching his candy, and the chocolate melted inside the wrapper.

**Stand user: Melvin Morranis**

**Stand: SHINY TOYS**

**Power: A**

**Speed: C**

**Durability: B**

**Precision: C**

**Range: B**

**Potential: D**

**Ability: Copies the design of any toy Melvin has, and assumes its role and characteristics of what the toy represents. **

The way Jordan walks to school, he takes a shortcut through a little wooded area in a park near his home. It already takes him 20 minutes to walk, so any shortcut is necessary. Without it, it would take him 30 minutes, and Jordan needs his beauty sleep.

In said park is actually one of the first "anomalies" that Jordan has seen in this town: A tree with a human face engraved into it's wood, pushing against the outside as if it's trying to escape.

"Hi, tree," Jordan said as he passed it.

Before the tree could say anything back, he heard the rolling of wheels on the pavement and a familiar voice yell, "Yo, Jordan!" And Donny Falcon came skating right up to him, kicking up his board and walking alongside him.

"Oh. Hey," Jordan said.

"Well, don't let me get you down," He jabbed an elbow at Jordan, "You looked lonely, you know."

"I guess I am," Jordan said.

Donny seemed to be looking around the trees of the park, bending over and scanning the horizon. He turned to Jordan, "So I was thinking, before you meet the other stand users, what's your stand's powers?"

"Powers?" Jordan thought for a beat, "I don't really know, to be honest. When I was fighting Melvin, I punched an electrical outlet, and it blew up his computer. And when I summon it, all the electric stuff around me turns on and kind of overloads."

"Hm," Donny rubbed his chin, "Seems weird. I don't see a lot of stands that have electric powers."

"You wanna see it?" Jordan asked with a bit of excitement cutting through his words.

Donny smirked, "I'd love to."

They stopped walking, and Donny backed up a few feet so that he wouldn't get hit by anything. Donny was used to seeing stands materialize normally, but when **Champion **came out of Jordan's body, it came out with a burst of sparks and streaks of lightning following it. And as it floated above Jordan, the blue aura surrounding the two pulsed and waved with a strong energy.

Donny looked at the stand with wonder, "It looks like a luchador, man! Awesome!"

The stand retreated into Jordan's body, and the energy dissipated away. Jordan said, "It's kind of tiring to keep out for a while." Then he asked Donny, "So what's your stand?"

"Nothing like yours," Donny looked a bit embarrassed, "Actually, I don't think I could ever use it effectively."

Donny produced a weak little red aura, and his stand came crawling up his back. It was small, and seemed like it was a stylish biking helmet with little hands and feet used to crawl up Donny. It had the proportions of a turtle, and had two little dots from under the helmet Jordan assumed were eyes.

"_Rad!_" It squeaked.

"What can it...do?" Jordan asked.

Donny shook his head, "Nothing. It just crawls around."

Jordan felt bad that he asked. Instead, he decided to change the topic by asking, "So when am I gonna see the other stand users?"

Donny didn't even hesitate to answer, "Tomorrow. Six o'clock at the skatepark."

"Oh," Jordan said, "Did you already know?"

"Well, that's just where we hang out, you know?" Donny said, "I told them about you already." Donny rested a hand upon Jordan's shoulder, "They're expecting you."

Then Donny's head darted to his left. He seemed concerned. Jordan leaned over and asked him, "Hey, are you ok?"

Donny didn't respond for a bit, then turned back, "Yeah, I just...forgot something. Sorry, I can't walk with you the rest of the way."

"You're gonna be late!" Jordan worried, "I'll go with you."

"What? No," Donny pushed him along, "Don't be late because of me. Besides, I'm always late."

Reluctantly, Jordan was pushed along. Donny Falcon watched him as he walked out of sight, waiting silently. Then he looked back to his left, up to the flowing leaves of the trees. He said to the trees, "Alright, I know you're there, bro."

He saw through the leaves. Being lowered down by little toy pulleys and ropes, Melvin came down the tree. Donny laughed at the sight, "Is that really how you want to show yourself?"

"You think I'd just drop myself?" Melvin asked, "Besides, we both know that my stand can beat yours in a fight."

Donny bellowed at Melvin, "Then attack me. Shoot me with your stand like you did Jordan, and wipe me out, huh?" He walked closer, "Come on! It's not like I could do anything!"

Melvin pointed at Donny Falcon, and tiny soldiers appeared around his body, "Stay back!" He yelled, "I'll kill you!"

Donny scoffed, "No, you won't. You're weak, and everyone knows it. And if you _do _attack me, that'll just make Jordan beat you up again."

"Then I'll tell him your stand's ability!" Melvin shouted confidently, "Then he'll know how to beat you when you do try to fight him!"

Donny chuckled to himself, "Even if you _did_," Donny pulled down his shades, revealing the deep red eyes underneath, "There's no way that Jordan could beat my stand, **Skate or Die**!"

And as much as Melvin wanted to believe in Jordan, he just wasn't sure.

So the time came. Jordan entered the Skatepark through the open gates, and found a suspicious lack of people. Leaves blew through the concrete playground, and the wind whistled in the air. Jordan felt strange, yet he also felt a presence. He walked deeper into the skate park, standing at the edge of one of the pools.

"Donny!" Jordan yelled. No response.

Jordan sat down and began listening to the sounds around him. It didn't take long until he heard rustling. To the shrubs just outside, he saw a figure coming towards him. He knew it probably wasn't Donny. He got ready for an ambush.

He stood up, and **Champion **slid beside him, fists up and ready to strike. Pointed toward the figure, Jordan yelled, "Don't come any closer!" Though it was an empty threat. He had nothing to throw at the enemy.

And coming running through the bushes was the stout, short body of Melvin. "Jordan!" He shouted.

"Get away!" Jordan yelled back. **Champion **had floated in front of him in a guarding position.

But Melvin came ever closer. When he was outside of Jordan's range, he said, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I couldn't while Donny-"

"What did you do with him?!" Jordan demanded.

"I didn't-_what?_-Look, just listen to me," Melvin pleaded.

Jordan kept quiet, and kept looking at Melvin. He seemed relieved. But Melvin didn't look behind him. He continued, "Donny's ability. He-"

And then Donny Falcon sauntered up behind him, and clocked him across the skull with his skateboard. Melvin's new glasses (the old ones were the ones Jordan broke) were shattered, and he collapsed against the pavement.

Donny lifted the skateboard to hit him again, but Jordan ran up to stop him, "Hey, stop! You could hurt him!"

"I already did," Donny said.

"Don't," Jordan warned. He didn't want Melvin to get too hurt, after all. Donny sighed, and pulled the skateboard away. Jordan backed up as well.

Then Donny sat on Melvin's unconscious body, "Well, thank god that's over. I thought he was going to hurt you for a second."

Jordan stared down at Melvin's unconscious body. He said quietly, "If he wanted to hurt me, he would have."

"Huh?" Donny looked lost, "He was about to. He was gonna wait until you put your guard down. Simple trick."

"Where are the other stand users?" Jordan was now looking into Donny's eyes. Or at least, he was trying through Donny's sunglasses.

Donny sprung off of Melvin's body, put his hands in his pockets, and started to walk towards Jordan, "They're getting here." He looked at Jordan, and said with sincerity, "What's wrong?"

Jordan stepped back, but Donny kept walking forward. Jordan said, "I guess...I don't know, it just seemed pretty cruel to...hit Melvin like that?"

"What?" Donny shook the comment off him, "He tried to kill you, man. And how am _I _supposed to fight him with a stand like mine?"

Jordan nodded. As Donny walked past him, Jordan said, "I guess I just don't want to fight him anymore."

Donny lifted up his skateboard, "Understandable."

Then Jordan felt **Champion **leave his body. To his right, he saw his stand blocking a skateboard. Before he could ask anything, his legs were swept out from under him. He slipped off the edge of the pool, and began rolling down the ditch.

He felt scratches and bruises on his body, small injuries that **Champion **was already healing. He looked up to Donny, "Hey, what the hell?"

Donny kicked up his skateboard on the edge of the pool. He put a strip of gum into his mouth. He stared down at Jordan.

"I said, what the hell?!" Jordan got onto his feet.

"I heard you," Donny chuckled, "Look, I kicked you down a pool, get your stand out, already?" Jordan said nothing, "Seriously? Dude, I _lied _to you. We're fighting. Get your stand out."

"You asshole!" Sure enough, **Champion **flew out beside Jordan.

Donny Falcon smiled. He kicked the skateboard down, and began to plummet down the side of the pool toward Jordan. **Champion **lunged forward, a fist ready to swing at Donny. Donny came ever closer, skating right by Jordan.

"**YATATATATATATATA!**"

**Champion **blocked Donny for just a few moments, but after a few moments, he saw that Donny was leaning back, narrowly avoiding **Champion**'s attacks by staying just outside of Jordan's range. He cheered and skated right up to the other end of the pool, once again standing above Jordan.

"How do you expect to fight me when your stand can't even do anything?" Jordan yelled at him.

"No idea!" Donny spun and came right back down, riding in a circle around Jordan, staying just outside of his range, letting **Champion **swing dozens of punches only to create a light breeze in front of his face. Jordan would chase after him, but Donny would keep that special distance away from him. Suddenly, he slid into a screeching halt. Jordan took the chance for **Champion **to swing at Donny once more.

But the attack felt resistance when something appeared floating in front of Donny. It was small, like a child. It had a leathery, padded body with no face other than what appeared to be sunglasses, and an orange biking helmet on its head. It didn't do much. The force was enough to blow past this new stand, and right into Donny's face.

Donny wobbled on the skateboard, being pushed back by the force of the punch. When he regained balance, he felt a drop of blood coming from his bottom lip. He put his two of his fingers on it, and wiped up some more blood from inside his mouth.

"Good, good!" He bellowed. He kicked against the ground, and used the slopes of the pool to gain more speed. He stayed low to the ground, doing sudden turns frantically as he went towards Jordan. When he approached Jordan's stand, he was now surrounded in a radiating red light.

Out of Donny's body came an even larger figure, stronger than last time, donning small spikes on its pads and muscled arms. Donny's stand clashed with **Champion**, tanking several punches and being able to land a few solid hits onto **Champion**. Donny was able to once again get to the top edge of the pool once he passed Jordan.

Donny let out an excited yell at the top of the pool, "Oh my God! You know, I have to thank you, Jordan. They _say _that it's exciting to fight some that's your equal in one of these fights, but you know, I think I have more fun when I'm fighting a _complete _amateur!"

Jordan screamed up at Donny, "I'll fucking kill you!"

"Jesus!" Donny feigned offence, "What are you so mad about?"

"Can you assholes just leave me alone?!" Jordan yelled, "I want to meet people, damn it! I want to-"

"What, you want friends?" Donny mocked, "Listen, get the hint already-if not from me, then from someone else who's gonna beat you up-you aren't wanted here."

Without saying any more words, Jordan began charging up the side of the pool at Donny. He moved away, and Jordan gripped the edge to pull himself up, **Champion **ready to defend from Donny's next attack.

But Donny was running this time. He was running towards Melvin's unconscious body. His stand flew out of his body, and grabbed Melvin by the collar. When Donny got close to Melvin, he called to Jordan, "Hey, I got a ball for you to catch!"

"Come on, that's not cool."

But despite Jordan's jeers, Donny threw Melvin like a football. Jordan almost didn't want to catch Melvin to make a point, but his conscience forced him to start running to catch Melvin. **Champion **flew out and caught him before he hit the ground, absorbing grind against the pavement when Melvin came landing on top of him.

Then came Donny. Jordan realized that he caught Melvin at the bottom of a grinding rail. Donny came rushing down, landing his skateboard right onto the railing. He flew down on the railing, sparks flying out from under him. His stand, now fully-formed with spikes and muscles, flew towards Jordan using its extended range. The first hit was slow enough for **Champion **to block, but the power behind made the block crumble under its weight. It made Jordan stumble and he felt his jaw swell with a massive, stinging pain.

Then the enemy stand launched a barrage of attacks all over Jordan, yelling "**RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD!**" As it did. As Jordan flew backwards in an explosion of blood, Donny Falcon took the moment to gloat.

"Jordan Johannes!" He yelled, "You now see the power of my stand, **SKATE OR DIE**, that it can become more powerful the more danger I put myself in." He pulled out a pocket knife from his jacket, "While my stand does start at E, with each stunt I pull, it increases its stats by one letter. That's why I don't wear a helmet!"

Jordan struggled to crawl away toward the direction of a half-pipe. Then, **Skate or Die **pulled a dart from Donny's jacket, and threw it at pin-point accuracy into Jordan's hand. He recoiled, grasping the bleeding, twitching hand and screaming in pain.

"Don't run now!" Donny cheered, "I want to beat you at my full power, Jordan!" He held up the knife, and turned it down, "And there's only one way to push myself to such a limit!" He stabbed the knife into the flesh of his wrist, and started to skate towards Jordan with blood spilling out of his wrist.

"**SKATE OR DIE**, Rank A!" Donny yelled. A huge, monstrous stand with shiny razors and firey patterns appeared around Donny, "Now, Jordan Johannes, see if your stand can survive this!" As a last trick to finish Jordan off, he kicked his skateboard upward as he entered Jordan's range. **Champion **wasn't even there to stop **Skate or Die**'s attack.

"**RRRAAAAAAAAA-**_rad!_" Before Donny's eyes, it turned back into the small, little E-rank stand from before.

Then Donny wiped out. He tried to land on his skateboard, which seemed to disappear as he blinked. His feet landed, he fell forward, and he rolled violently across the ground, until the back of his head slammed hard against the edge of the half-pipe, and he was out.

Then **Champion **dropped Donny's skateboard next to him. As his wounds began to heal back up, Jordan said, "I really didn't think that would work. I just punched your skateboard, dude...watch your weak spots."

Donny wasn't conscious, of course. And Jordan got really worried when he saw something dripping from Donny's ear. He rushed over, thinking it was blood, but was perplexed when he saw something completely different.

Tiny black cubes, dropping one by one onto the concrete. They began to roll across the ground in the vague direction of north. Jordan followed, but didn't stop most of them from falling into a drain. He tried to grab one, only to find they're razor sharp, and his fingertips bled to the touch.

When Donny awoke, he found Jordan and Melvin playing chopsticks in front of him. He was very confused. "Uhh, hi?" Donny said.

Jordan turned around to look at him, "Oh, hi. You're up."

Donny was confused, which quickly turned to embarrassment, "I shouldn't have done that," He said, "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault."

"Ye-What?" Donny glared at Jordan.

"It wasn't," Jordan said, "When you were knocked out, some black cubes were falling out of your head."

Donny blinked, still not understanding, "That's...not possible. Are you sure I wasn't, like, bleeding or something?"

"I saw it too," Melvin said, "I was waking up when you were knocked out. I saw Jordan trying to follow them," He pointed to the drain, "They went down there. We don't know where they go."

Donny still didn't understand. Jordan tried to help, "Donny...you feel bad about what you did, right?" Donny nodded, "So why didn't you feel bad before? You _really _seemed like you were perfectly fine...you know...trying to kill me."

Donny shrugged, "You know, I just...well, you're a new kid…" He paused, "God, I really don't know," He smacked himself, "What's wrong with me?"

Jordan walked over, and put a hand on Donny's shoulder. He flinched, but didn't push him off. Jordan said, "Nothing is wrong with you. This isn't your fault."

Donny looked up at Jordan, seeing a reassuring smile. He felt a weight off his chest.

"Someone _made _you do that," Jordan said, "I saw my own stand blow up a computer, toys come to life, and a guy who becomes more powerful the harder he skateboards, in the first _two weeks _of my school year. I don't think it's crazy that there's some sort of stand that's making this town do things it wouldn't normally do."

Jordan stood up, and looked at his two new friends, "I'm going to find who has this stand," He took a deep breath, letting the resolve fill his being, "And I'm going to beat the shit out of him!"


	5. The Life and Times

"First order of business!" Melvin smacked a pointer stick on a board, which was only dimly lit in his attic by a single light bulb, since the window is boarded up. The board had hazy, somewhat creepy pictures of random people that lived in Riverford. "Welcome to the 'we-tried-to-beat-up-Jordan-but-then-he-beat-us-up-and-now-we're-friends-with-Jordan club!"

Donny Falcon raised his hand, "We're, like, only three people, we...don't need a club name."

Melvin sighed, "Listen. If Jordan's theory is true, and there is an evil stand user infecting the good stand users of Riverford with bad JuJu, then expect this club to be a lot bigger soon."

Jordan raised his hand, "Hey, I don't think your mom likes me. I think that she put two and two together and figured out that _I'm _the reason you don't have a window, PC, or games collection anymore."

"I still have games," Melvin said, "Just not a monitor or Nintendo 64 anymore. Who keeps their eggs in one basket?" He shook his head, trying to get back on topic, "Look, we got shit to do! We gotta find these stand users-"

"Bro, who even _are _those?" Donny exclaimed. He got up, pointing at the pictures, "They look like you never held a camera before!"

Melvin snapped, "It's hard to take pictures when you're being stealthy!" Melvin dug a finger into Donny's chest.

"Hey, hey!" Jordan broke them up, "We can relax. Look, Donny, did you tell anyone about me?"

Donny crossed his arms, "Nope."

"And you only told Donny about me, right, Melvin?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah."

Jordan took a deep breath, "Good. Then we don't even need to worry about it."

Jordan walked back to his chair, leading to confused looks from his two compatriots. Melvin asked, "You sure you don't want to pursue this?"

"What happened to 'I'm gonna beat the shit out of him?'" Donny inquired.

Jordan shrugged, "I don't know...I mean, I got you two to be my friends now. I don't really _need _more people," He let out a chuckle of self-pity, "I mean, this more than I ever had."

Melvin and Donny just stared at Jordan. Donny sighed and said, "Man, what do we do with you?"

Jordan sighed, "Look, can we just not go after stand users for a week? I get that it's bad and all, and I want to help, I do, but it's bad for my mental health to fight someone new every week!" He got up from his chair, "Can't we just, like, hang out, or something?"

Melvin and Donny recoiled at the suggestion.

"What, like normal people?" Melvin exclaimed.

"Not fighting other people?" Donny complained.

The two looked at each other.

"So yeah, this is pretty much my favorite place to eat," Donny said. They had gone into the Riverford Hotel, which used to be a hotel, but was now a restaurant that was still called a hotel for no conceivable reason.

"It's actually not because of the food," Donny admitted, "But because they say that in this hotel, there was a man who was walking on the ceiling and didn't know why."

"Wait," Jordan rubbed his temple, "Are you telling me that a man was just...walking on the ceiling...and _the guy on the ceiling _didn't know why."

"Yep," Melvin said, "It's a part of history. The first of the many weird things to happen in Riverford.

A server brought a huge plate of nachos covered in fake cheese and shredded pork and Donny said, "I also like it because I like disgusting food."

Melvin grimaced, "Donathan Falcon, do you expect me to _eat that_?!"

With cheese dripping from his mouth, Donny said, "Yeah. It's not like you're on a diet."

"I may not have the best health, but I have respect for myself," Melvin said.

Donny smiled, "Someone has to."

Jordan put a hand over his mouth as Melvin fumed, "Oh, if only I were still insane, I would have shot you _so many _times by now!"

Donny laughed, "Oh, you still want to go?" He pointed a thumb towards a back room, "Because in that arcade room, they have _Super Ultra Death Fighters 3_."

Melvin stood up from his seat, "You mean the only arcade game that takes into account _how hard you press the buttons?!_"

Donny leaned forward, "The very same!"

The two of them virtually teleported to the arcade with the speed at which they found themselves in front of the game. In sync, they entered quarters into the machine, and came upon the character selection screen.

"SELECT YOUR _**SUPER ULTRA DEATH FIGHTER!**_"

Melvin selected "Dr. Muscle," An evil scientist who's able to convert his brain power into muscle power, going from a superintelligent twig of a man to a barbaric, purple monstrosity in mere seconds. He uses gadgets and strength together to become a deadly fighter.

Donny Falcon chose Andrew Anarchy, a punk rock rebel who uses his skill with spray paint and guitar skillz to defeat his enemies. He came from a rich family, but disavowed his family when he found out they were polluting the environment with their oil business.

"Seriously? Grunk?" Donny asked, "He's just like, pure evil. Not even a fun character."

"No, no!" Melvin shouted, "If you read the comics, you'd know that Dr. Muscle is a deep character that has to balance his more calm, smart side with his savage, angry side. He's not _really _evil, he's just misunderstood!"

"You lost me at 'If you read the comics,'" Donny grumbled.

Their two characters came on screen. Dr. Muscle entered from the left, transforming from a little man into a large monster. As he did, he shouted, "I'll harvest your organs for research!"

"Oh, just misunderstood, huh?" Donny asked.

Then Andrew Anarchy came on from stage right. He came dropping from the sky, doing the superhero pose, dusting off his leather jacket, and whipping out his guitar. He said to Dr. Muscle, "Your unethical experiments end now!"

"The biggest Gary Stu in the series," Melvin said, "Literally a self-insert character."

"I'll self-insert my dick in your ass in a few seconds."

The battle started. Donny started out with a ranged attack from the guitar, sending a slash forward toward Dr. Muscle. Melvin jumped over it, and once he landed, he pulled a laser gun from nowhere, and shot Donny. Donny responded with a charge attack with his chain, and the two characters clashed.

The clash is the most iconic part of SUDF (Super Ultra Death Fighters, pronounced "Sood've" by the fans). The two players must mash the two buttons next to the joystick with enough speed and power to overpower the other. The advanced system of the game takes into account every aspect of how they're pressing the buttons. Speed is equally as important as power, and it's the most competitive aspect of the game.

Melvin surrounded himself in a green aura, "**SHINY TOYS! **Win this game for me!"

Donny was mashing the buttons usually, but the toy soldiers all over Melvin's body literally shot the buttons with more power than Donny could make with his hand. The game shouted, "Good! Great! Epic! Fantastic! **LEGENDARY!**" As Melvin pumped up the power of his stand. The amount of damage done to Donny's character was enough to finish him up in the next combo.

Donny threw his arms up in frustration, "Come on, man, that's not fair!"

Melvin shrugged smugly, "Well, if we were to fight, that's what would happen. You have neither the skateboard nor the hill to get your stand from an E to an A. And because of that, I'd win."

"Oh-ho-ho!" Donny backed up, "I see how it is. Well, if that's truly what we're doing, then I wouldn't even start fighting you without help," He pointed to the only other person in the room, "I choose Jordan as my substitute!"

Jordan was just sipping on his coke watching the show, "Wait, what?" He squinted at Donny, "You want me to play?"

Melvin scoffed, "He probably hasn't even-"

Then Jordan pushed Donny aside. They could see a blinding light of resolve in his glasses as he naturally assumed the controls and flipped the coins into the machine.

"In my old home, I played Sood've 2 at the local arcade by myself. It might have been an old version, and I might have only been fighting AIs, but I think I can take Melvin."

"Heh," Melvin chuckled, "I guess you're becoming more confident with your stand now."

"Not just my stand," Jordan said, "But myself, too."

Jordan chose the character Joe Bootsman, a supersoldier for the American army who went rogue when Baxton (another character in the series) became president of the United States. Joe Bootsman doesn't like bullies, and will always stand up for what's right. He also doesn't like Andrew Anarchy due to the fact he's a punk who doesn't play by the rules.

"Wait, Baxton became _president_?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, the lore gets weird," said Melvin.

Joe Bootsman entered from the right out of a helicopter, being lowered down from a rope ladder, and once landed, took out an M-16 with several marks on it, showing it had been through some tough times. Then he said, "Things have changed...and so have I!"

Jordan jumped over the lazer fired by Dr. Muscle, and responded by throwing a grenade behind him that launched him forward into an uppercut. Then Jordan did a lot of uppercuts, consecutively, and Melvin couldn't do anything about it for a while. Once Melvin broke from the stun lock, the two sides clashed.

"Now! **SHINY TOYS**!"

"**CHAMPION**!"

"Attack!"

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATA!**"

The two sides clashed equally for a while, though the presence of **Champion** caused the screen to become brighter, and pixellated. Still, the game went through the combos, "Good! Great! Epic! Fantastic! **LEGENDARY! LEGENDARY! LEGENDARY!**"

"Give up now, Jordan!" Melvin shouted, "You can't handle the power of my stand!"

"The power of your **Shiny Toys **is nothing compared to the speed of my **CHAMPION**!" Jordan retorted.

"**LEGENDARY LEGENDARY LEGENDARY LE-LE-LE-LE-**" And the game froze. Then the screen cracked, and they couldn't see anything. The music kept looping, and they only heard the game going "le-le-le-le-le-le" over and over.

Melvin winced, "I think we should leave stands out of playing video games."

Jordan was holding his chest, panting like he ran a mile, "Uh...yeah…"

"Hey Jordan," Melvin said later, "Do you watch Naruto?"

"No," Jordan said, "I mean, it would probably be good, but I get really annoyed when writers put in a bunch of filler at random moments, sometimes after really intense moments, just to give themselves time to figure out what's going to happen next without having to make the audience wait a long time for the next story beat."

"Yeah," Said Melvin, "That _is _annoying."


	6. What a radical dude!

It had been a month since Jordan moved to Riverford. It was nice to have a few weeks of no stand fighting. It was then that the we-tried-to-beat-up-Jordan-but-then-he-beat-us-up-and-now-we're-friends-with-Jordan club decided to go to the old saloon at the edge of the beach. It was a preserved saloon that is supposedly kept exactly the same as it was over a hundred years ago.

In the middle of the saloon was a crude chalk silhouette of a sprawled-out figure. "That man there was supposedly killed in a duel with _Bill Bagans_," A server described enthusiastically, "Before he could fire at Bill, his chest blew up like he'd already been shot!"

"Wow," Jordan said, "Did that really happen?"

"Probably not," The server admitted, "But it's just one of the stories that makes Riverford so unique!"

Once they ordered and the server left, Jordan asked his group, "So are stand users a part of this town's history?"

"Probably," Melvin shrugged, "It would explain a lot. Why everyone here has stands, why there are so many mystery spots, and why we hate outsiders."

Jordan nodded, and then his attention turned to Donny. He seemed absent. He was subtly biting his nails, and looking past the swinging saloon doors to the beach. "Hey, Donny, what's going on?" Jordan asked.

Donny jumped a bit, "Oh. Nothing, I guess."

Jordan lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh fine," He sighed, "Look, a friend of mine is a stand user. He hangs out at the beach a lot, and I haven't seen him since I got...de-cubed. If he sees me, I don't know what he's gonna do."

"Probably beat up Jordan," Melvin said.

"What?" Jordan turned to Melvin.

"I tried to kill you when you just showed up at my club," Melvin reminded him, "If a guy with cubes in his head sees you, and thinks that you're stealing away one of his friends, he's gonna attack you on the spot."

This made Donny break into a sweat. "Maybe we should just leave," He squeaked, "Being in his zone is probably a bad idea."

"'His zone' is a weird way to phrase it," Melvin said.

"But it's true!" Donny stood up, looking at the saloon doors, "I'm telling you man, I don't think we should be here!"

"Woah, relax," Jordan walked over to Donny, trying to calm him down, "We'll cancel the order and leave. It's fine." He put a hand on Donny's shoulder.

They decided to go with that. Once out, Donny was scanning the horizon for his old friend, keeping the collar of his jacket up toward his face to make sure that he couldn't be recognized.

Then, past a corner came a horde of high school girls, crowding some mysterious figure. The gang had to stop to allow them to pass, and although these three young boys would definitely be looking at the girls in beach wear, even their eyes were drawn to the man they were crowding.

A fellow student, but his body appeared as if it were sculpted by Greek Gods. His skin was dark and sun-kissed, like a true surfer. His blond hair flowed in the wind like a royal prince. At each of the girls he winked at with golden irises, they would swoon for him even more. His presence stole the show. Then he looked at the boys, and pushed the girls away like nothing.

"Donny!" He shouted, "Where you been, man?!" He looked at Melvin and Jordan, "And who are these dudes?"

Donny froze behind a fake smile, and Jordan quickly spoke up, "Oh. Are you a friend of Tony's?"

Donny looked at him.

"We just met," Jordan continued. Melvin, Donny, and this figure were all looking at Jordan.

"Dude, his name's Donny," He said, "Get it right." Though his words were sharp, he seemed calm. But Donny did, too, before he attacked Jordan.

"Oh, right," Jordan shrugged, "Sorry. I'm bad with names."

"Hi, Lars," Donny said. He pointed a thumb at Melvin, "You know him, don't you?"

Lars squinted at Melvin, "Uh...M...Marco?"

"What about me looks Italian?" Melvin grumbled.

Lars ignored the comment, and looked back at Donny, "So where you been?"

"I got grounded," Donny lied with a convincing smirk, "Parents wouldn't let me out of the house. I tried to get out, believe me."

"_Shaaaa_," He walked up and high-fived Donny. Lars turned over to Jordan, shifting his focus. Lars was taller than Jordan, and really, everyone else in the group. He held out a hand for Jordan to shake, "Lars murphy."

Jordan exchanged looks with his friends, who didn't know how to respond. Jordan found himself grabbing Lars's hand and shaking it, "Jordan Johanne-"

Lars pulled Jordan closer, into an almost-hug, "Dude, your name is like Jojo!" He looked to the girls, "Hey, call this guy Jojo!"

"Please don't," Jordan begged quietly. But it was too late. Now that Lars asked them, they were all giggling "Jojo" to themselves. Jordan glared at Donny, who could only shrug back.

Jordan was let free from the almost-hug, and Lars turned back to Donny, "So, you want to hang out? Just the two of us, to catch up?"

Donny gulped, and without thinking, said, "Sure...I guess?" He looked at Jordan and Melvin.

"Go ahead," Jordan said, "Catch up with your buddy."

Donny seemed relieved. Then Donny grabbed him by the shoulder, shooed away the girls, and went for a walk on the beach. Once the girls dispersed, and Lars was out of earshot, Jordan spoke.

"Do you think he knows I'm a stand user?" Jordan asked.

Melvin sniffed, "Probably."

They heard the waves lapping against the beach and the cries of seagulls.

"It's been fun, Jordan," Melvin said, waving as he left.

"Oh, bye-" As he lifted up his hand to wave, he felt something. A bit of pain. He looked down at his palm, and saw a rather deep cut. He stared at it for a few seconds, trying to remember when he could have cut his hand. **Champion **easily sealed it with a little blue spark of energy.

**Stand user: Donny Falcon**

**Stand: Skate or Die**

**Power: E**

**Speed: E**

**Durability: E**

**Precision: E**

**Range: E**

**Potential: A**

**Ability: The more dangerous stunts he pulls, the more powerful his stand gets. **

Jordan was walking through downtown on his way home. It was a nice day, which is probably why so many people were at the beach. In the air, he smelled a high amount of diesel, a side effect of the car show that brought older cars into the open. Jordan saw some middle-aged man trying to impress young kids with his old red car. Jordan didn't know the make of car, and didn't really care. He doesn't find that interesting, and he didn't want to stay around town once the car show started, so he speed-walked past the car.

Then he heard a very loud pop that sounded like an explosion. He stopped and turned to it. The front tire of the car had exploded. The man who owned the car rushed to the tire, pushing Jordan aside with a shove. When he saw the damage, he immediately pointed at Jordan.

"You punk!" He shot up, grabbing Jordan by the collar, "What, did you think this is funny?"

Jordan stammered in shock, "I-what?"

"Don't deny it!" He screamed, "You were walking right past when the tire popped!" Jordan looked down at the tire as the man continued, "I paid good money for this, you know!"

"I-I didn't-" He saw something in the concrete. Little folds moving out from under the car, moving forward. Like tiny ripples in a puddle. _That's not usually what concrete does_, Jordan thought. He pushed the man away suddenly, and crouched down on the ground, lowering himself to the tire with one hand.

"You can't do that!" The man yelled, "Respect your elders!"

But Jordan wasn't paying attention. Under the car, it was dark. But he could swear that under the car, he could see...a glint. Yes, something reflective from under the car, rising out of the concrete. Then it shot forward.

Jordan could barely even react before it sheared off the heel of his hand, almost taking the pinky with it. A wave of blood lapped onto the concrete, and Jordan rolled back to the sidewalk, trying hopelessly to cover the bleeding with his other hand.

The kids looking at the car screamed, and the man yelled at Jordan, "What-what's going on?!" It shot forward again, narrowly missing Jordan, but cutting off the side of the man's shoe, luckily causing no injury. The man stumbled backwards before running away from the scene.

Whatever was attacking Jordan made its way to the hedges on the edge of the sidewalk. From what he could see, it was like a curved blade that emanated ripples through the pavement.

_Man, I'm bleeding a lot right now, _Jordan thought, _Is it bad that I'm at the point where I'm treating gushing blood like a minor nuisance? Man, I hate this town. _It's at that point that it pointed towards Jordan. _I can't have __**Champion **__heal me now!_

The blade poked out of the ground, revealing it was more like a curved chainsaw. Then as more of the stand rose out of the ground, it had the shape of a shark with golden, razor scales. As it drove towards Jordan, it opened its mouth to reveal several layers of teeth with similar saw blades spinning on them.

"**YATATATATA!**"

When it jumped at Jordan, **Champion **unleashed a barrage of punches that launched it over the hedge, and out of mind. Jordan calmed down for a few moments, only for the stand to shred through the hedge to rush at Jordan. This time, he jumped out of the way and started running down the street. The giant wound on his hand began to heal, though as he ran, blood fell beside him and onto the street.

The shark was rushing around where Jordan was for a few moments, striking randomly at sticks and rocks on the ground, before once again going after Jordan. It was only going in his general direction, though. _I should probably get somewhere that it can't hurt other people_, Jordan thought.

Jordan's running got him in front of a restaurant, filled with people. Behind him, he saw that the shark had gotten closer, and the closer it got, the faster it went. He dodged out of the way as it lunged past again, this time cutting away the bottom of a trash can and spilling litter onto the street.

A waiter from the restaurant pointed at Jordan, "Hey, what did you do? Don't think that you can get away with that!"

Jordan looked up and glared at him, "Shut up!" He yelled at the man savagely, "You have to get away!"

Before Jordan heard the waiter make any remarks, the sidewalk was split open by a dozen deep cuts made by the shark. Once again, it was attacking sporadically, without any real target. Jordan looked to his hand, seeing that the wound he gained earlier had disappeared.

"Now, **Champion!**" Jordan pointed his stand towards the shark, and unleashed another "**YATATATATATATA!**" Into it. It was thrown into the street, though Jordan felt sharp pains in his knuckles. He looked down at them, finding that **Champion **had struck either particularly sharp scales, or one of the razor fins.

Which meant that the stand wasn't dead yet.

Jordan grabbed at his face. He was panting like never before. He was running, using up **Champion's **energy, and he was healing wounds. _Even in the fight with Melvin, I wasn't running, fighting, and healing at the same time!_ He tried to stand up, only for his head to flush and he had to support himself by the nearby table.

He saw the stand's dorsal fin protruding from the asphalt, sending ripples through the water as it went forward. The waiter, not able to see the impending doom, asked Jordan, "Hey, are you ok? Do you know what just happened?" He looked at Jordan's bleeding knuckles, "Do you need anything?"

"_Lars Murphy_," He growled.

The waiter squinted at Jordan, "Excuse me?"

Jordan leaned forward, and **Champion **floated beside him to get ready for the attack. "It's the only explanation," Jordan said, "This has got to be his stand."

The shark hurtled towards Jordan. **Champion **lunged forward to attack, but instead of its usual barrage, it threw one sluggish "**YATA!**" That, for the first time, the enemy stand was able to dodge. The shark weaved under **Champion's **fist and it's pectoral fin dug into his chest. Jordan's white shirt was tainted by a dark bloodstain. **Champion **was able to elbow it back into the ground, but Jordan's body was covered with pain.

Jordan clutched his stinging wound, and ran off to the side of the restaurant. He saw a child watching the predicament next to a colorful bike, which Jordan stole regretfully. He said to the child, "You can find this near the Riverford beach in about half an hour-maybe."

Then he started biking his way down the street.

**Stand User: Lars Murphy**

**Stand name: ?**

**Power: C**

**Speed: B**

**Durability: A **

**Precision: D**

**Range: A**

**Potential: E **

**Stand ability: ?**

It was a strange sight to behold: Jordan Johannes riding down the street, pedalling the bike with one leg (people can't see his stand doing the other pedal) and the other spurting blood onto the street behind him. It was about to get even weirder.

Jordan saw the shark racing after him. All he could think to do was to get help from either Donny or Melvin. He scanned the environment. Near the corner of an intersection, he saw one of the last phone booths in Riverford. He jerked the bike toward the sidewalk.

"**YATA!**"

As Jordan passed the booth, the glass shattered, and **Champion **dropped the phone book into the basket at the front of the bike. Jordan took out his mobile phone as **Champion **flipped through the phone book to the "M" section. _I feel bad I don't know Donny or Melvin's mobile phone numbers,_ Jordan thought, _but I might as well try to call their home phone. _

_Click!_

"Hello, this is Wanda Moranis," said Melvin's mom.

"Hiiii," Jordan faked enthusiasm, "This is, um, Jordan-"

"Johannes?!" She yelled incredulously.

"Yeah. Can I _please _speak to Melvin?"

She growled into the microphone, "Now listen here, you punk! I know what you did to my son, and I don't know how you convinced him to be your friend-"

"Mrs. Moranis, this is very important-" Jordan was just barely hit by a car before **Champion **swerved the bike out of the way. The car blared its horn.

"What was that?" Wanda demanded, "Was that a car? What sort of dangerous things are you trying to get my son into?!"

Then Jordan hung up. He did not want to listen to Wanda Moranis's shrill voice again anytime soon. "Ok," Jordan sighed, "Let's try Donny."

_Click!_

"Hello, this is the Falcon household," Said a deep voice.

"Hi," Jordan said, "Is Donny there?"

There was a pause, "I'm sorry, do you mean 'Donald?' Because we have a son named _Donald_, not _Donny._"

Jordan felt extremely awkward, "Uhh...sorry? Yes, is Donald home?" It felt weird to call him "Donald."

"You're one of his skater friends, aren't you?" He sneered, "I hope you aren't asking him to..._do drugs_ or something. You're leading him down the wrong path, I hope you know, he _could _have friends in some business club, but instead, he has you, a lowlife-"

Jordan hung up again. This had become really depressing really fast. _What do I have to do to get some help right now?_ He looked back to the shark. It was still following him. He saw blood still falling from his leg. **Champion **was doing too much to heal it right now. Lucky for Jordan, he could see the beach through the gaps in the buildings. Lars Murphy was in his sight. He didn't need to worry about this for too much longer.

Then he sped past cars waiting at the edge of an intersection. He realized that in this intersection, it wasn't his turn to go. One car honked as it passed behind him, but the terrifying part was that he saw a big wheeler blocking his entire crossing. He was too fast to turn, and if he stopped he would be attacked by the shark.

He knew what he had to do. He had seen it done in a ton of movies.

Under his eyes, he saw a faint blue light. The gears of the pedals were a light blue, shrouded in **Champion's **aura. It was sparking and pulsating, in the way that Melvin's electronics did under **Champion's **power. He had never seen that before, but he had no time to think about it.

Then Jordan was pushed forward with a speed unlike any he had experienced before, as if his legs were replaced by a diesel engine. Before he turned to paste against the side of the truck, he whipped the handles to the side. He drifted under the truck in a stunt that would make Donny jealous. His skin would have torn off against the pavement if **Champion **didn't block the damage. Jordan could barely even process what was happening before he found himself upright on the other side of the truck.

He would have cheered if he didn't immediately hit another car, and go flying off the bike into an alleyway. When he landed, there was no way **Champion **could block all the damage. He was in a worse position than before. Blood stained the concrete below him, his glasses were nowhere to be found, he was struggling to breath, and he could barely stand up. A lot of bystanders tried to help, but Jordan yelled at them to go away, and slinked into the small alleyway.

He went further into the trash bags and rats. He looked behind him, and saw the shark following Jordan's trail of blood. People were keeping distance from Jordan's blood stain, so when the shark got to it, it attacked a nearby trash can.

_Wait a minute, _Jordan thought. He started to connect the dots in his head. _Of course! It's a shark! It follows blood! _

The shark started to get closer. He had to think fast. His head spun to look at his surroundings, and his stomach sank when he saw what he had to do. A rat was picking innocently at a piece of trash to his right. As far as he saw, there was no other choice.

"I'm sorry!" Jordan cried. **Champion **grabbed the rodent, and without hesitation, shot it at the shark like a football.

Lars quickly found that Donny was not the friend he once knew. It didn't take long for Donny to find an excuse and take off. So, Lars was left by himself. He found time to impress a few girls, so he started to talk about his workout regiment with them.

"Yeah, I get these muscles from nature," He said, "You see, if you spend enough time out on the waves, muscles just naturally build up over time."

"_Omygod, reallyyyy?_" Said one of the girls.

"Yeah, it's just what happens when you risk you life like I do."

Out of nowhere, the girls shrieked in terror. Lars raised an eyebrow, "Hey, what's going on? You can't be screaming at me, can you?" Before they could answer, they ran away.

Behind him, he heard the dragging of something through the sand, and pained, exhausted panting. When Lars looked behind him, he saw Jordan Johannes. Covered in blood, no glasses, dragging a useless leg behind him, heaving like a dog.

"Jordan Johannes!" Lars smiled at him, "How you doing? How'd you escape my stand?"

Jordan had a hard time speaking, "I...threw a rat at it. It killed the rat, then forgot about me."

This angered Lars, but he wasn't going to let it show. He shrugged, "Well, it seems that you aren't doing so well," He put his fists up in a mock boxing pose, "You wanna slug it out now?"

Jordan kept pulling himself forward, "You're as dumb as your stand-" Jordan heard the grinding of sand. He looked away from Lars, and saw a shiny blade curving out from the beach.

"My stand, **Dani California**, is a semi-automatic stand," Lars told him, "Usually, it just follows people based on the trail of their blood. But when it's near me, I can control it just as easily as a normal stand."

**Dani **cut through the stand towards Jordan, and leaped towards Jordan. Just like earlier, **Champion's **attack was avoided, and **Dani's **grinding teeth dug into his shoulder. His blood soaked the sand below him.

"You shouldn't have tried to come after me!" Lars crossed his arms, relaxing in his secured victory, "You should have just run away after getting **Dani **off your scent. Now, I'll drive my stand through your chest and eat your heart out!"

The teeth sank deeper into Jordan's chest. He was losing balance, and he was probably the closest to dying he'd been so far. But even with that, he was calm. In a serene voice, he said to Lars, "I guess we'll see who faints first, then."

Lars squinted at Jordan, "What? What do you-"

"**YATA!**"

Lars felt his body go limp after the first punch. He thought in a panic, _What? He's been running across town! Does __**Champion **__really have enough energy left? _He was about to fall out of his range, but was pulled back towards **Champion**. For a moment, he looked into the white eyes of that luchador mask, watching as the red fists cocked backwards.

"**YATATATATATATATATATA! YATATATATATATATA! YATATATATATATA! YATA! YATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!**"

The stand latched to Jordan's shoulder began to jerk violently. It's skin dented with every punch that landed on Lars. As the jerks became more and more violent, Jordan could feel the bite waver in strength. Then it flew off, the once strong and intimidating teeth having been shattered to pieces, scattering into the wind.

For a moment, everything stopped. Jordan took a deep breath of the beach air. It was relieving to finally be rid of that stand. He looked over at Lars, who was stumbling backwards towards the ocean. Jordan called to him, "Hey, are little black cubes falling out of your ears?! I don't have my glasses, so I can't see very well!"

"_Aaaaaaaaaggrhaagh…_" Lars cried through his broken face.

"That a no?" Jordan sighed, "I guess you have to be fully knocked out. Sorry about this, man." **Champion **hovered above Lars, lining up one final shot to the head.

"**YYYYYYYYYAAAATA!**"

And with one hit to the side of the head, a squirt of cubes fell onto the beach sand. Lars's head swooned, and he fell into the lapping waves. And then Jordan fainted.


	7. Relationship problems, part one

September was coming to an end, and October was around the corner. Halloween decorations lined the streets of Riverford, and Jordan was content knowing that everyone who knew about his stand was no longer insane and trying to go after him. Lars had joined the tried-to-kill-Jordan club, though he wasn't as active as Donny or Melvin.

"Lars doesn't want to play DnD," Donny told the two on the walk home, causing them to groan in frustration.

"How can we play with only three people?!" Melvin whined.

"Hey, the game isn't for everyone," Donny shrugged, "And it's definitely not for Lars."

Jordan shook his head. They were all disappointed in their lack of players, and were stuck on what to do. Nobody could see them hanging out at school, lest they tell another stand user. So Lars was their last option, but he just isn't interested.

"Maybe my girlfriend?" Melvin asked.

"You have a girlfriend?" Jordan raised an eyebrow.

"I literally told you this before, asshole," Melvin said.

"There's someone out there for everyone, Jordan," Donny said with wisdom, "Melvin just found his before us."

"Damn, is it really that serious?" Jordan asked.

"Hey, don't ask me that!" Melvin exclaimed, "How am I supposed to know if she's _the one _yet? I'm a sophomore in high school!"

"Fair," Jordan shrugged, "Is she a stand user?"

"Pssh," Melvin scoffed, "If she was a stand user, I would have told you by now. See ya." Melvin turned toward the corner to his house, and the other two kept on walking.

Donny and Jordan struck up a conversation about the topic of school before they got to Jordan's house. Donny's place is past Jordan's, so he always sees Jordan's house. But as they walked past Jordan's house, Donny asked, "Is that usually there?"

Jordan looked over to see an old red van with distinctive scrapes and drawings of war on the side. Jordan knew exactly what this meant. "I didn't know that he was coming," Was all he said before he rushed inside.

When he was inside, he saw his mom, Rose, and another figure. He locked his blue eyes with the opposing orange eyes. The figure was a tall man with broad shoulders with white leather jacket and long black hair. Their eyes were only locked in a moment before the man charged Jordan, and swept him up in a bear hug.

"JOJOOOOOOOOOO!"

Donny watched aimlessly as Jordan and this huge man had some sort of reunion before Jordan was dropped to the ground. He asked, "so...do I need to be here anymore?"

Jordan looked back over to Donny, "Oh, this is my uncle, Jonas."

Jonas rushed over to Donny, "Are you one of Jordan's friends?" He didn't allow Donny to respond, "Jordan's never made many friends. Or at least I've never met them. What's your name?"

"Donny-"

"Donny!" He slugged him in the shoulder, a bit too hard for a friendly gesture, though that's what Jonas was attempting. "Cool name, really."

Strangely, Donny felt that, "Thank...thank you."

Then Jonas got an idea, "Hey! I need to get to know the layout of this town for my assignment. Would you two like to come with me for a drink or something? Not alcoholic, of course."

Donny looked at Jordan, nodded, then looked back to Jonas, "It would be a mistake to not hang out with you, sir!"

"Great!" Jonas cheered, "Get in the van!"

**Stand user: Melvin Morranis**

**Stand: SHINY TOYS**

**Power: A**

**Speed: C**

**Durability: B**

**Precision: C**

**Range: B**

**Potential: D**

**Ability: Copies the design of any toy Melvin has, and assumes its role and characteristics of what the toy represents. **

Melvin hadn't actually seen his girlfriend in a while. Since Jordan beat him up, he'd been having some time coping with his own actions. They hadn't been out on a real date in about a month. So he finally called her and asked to meet outside his house. Not romantic, he knows, but he needed to talk to her.

When she came walking down the street, Melvin almost swooned himself. He was in love with her short black hair, black eyeliner, and black clothes. Her wardrobe isn't that diverse, but that isn't important to him.

When they met, she leaned down and pecked him on the lips before she asked, "Melvy, is something wrong?"

He sighed, "Yes…" He couldn't make eye contact with her for a bit. She pulled back, shocked by his mood. He choked out to her, "Do you think...I'm a good person?"

She gasped, "Melvy!" She pulled his chin to look at her, "Of course I do! Why would I be with you if you weren't?"

"I…" It was hard for him to form words, "I don't know, Goth…" He gently pushed her hand away, and took a few steps back.

Goth's hopeless brown eyes stared into him. Eventually she said, "What happened, Melvin?"

Melvin found himself holding back a lot of information. _I can't tell her,_ he told himself, _she shouldn't be involved in these matters._ He took a deep breath before saying, "I can't tell you, Goth. I just can't. I'm sorry."

Goth closed her eyes, and used the tip of her thumb to wipe away a forming tear. "I understand," She said.

Melvin closed his eyes, and turned his head, "I don't think you can," He felt himself start to cry, "I just-"

Then his face was cupped. Once again, Goth held his face in her hands as she leaned forward, "Don't worry," She said, "You don't have to tell me anything." And then she hooked him into a deep kiss, one that lasted for several long seconds. A bit too long, actually. Melvin tried to lean out of it, and the hands around his cheeks grew tighter.

"...**Careless Whisper**."

Melvin opened his eyes, and saw Goth standing right beside him, though there was still pressure on his lips and cheeks. He panicked. His eyes darted around his periphery until he looked right in front of him. And he didn't see anything, really. He was looking right into a silver screen.

Images flashes within his eyes, and it was mirrored within the screen. Images of Jordan, Donny, and Lars were on display in front of him, similar to a slideshow. Their stands, any time they spent with him, and specifically, the black cubes that were infecting each of them. Once the images of those cubes appeared on the screen, he was let go.

In front of him stood Goth's stand. It had her figure, but other than that, it was nothing like her. It was a bright, colorful stand with ornate patterns throughout its body, though there were large patches of black along the stand's torso. Most importantly, its eyes were covered by a screen similar to a sleeping mask.

"You have a stand?" Melvin asked. Then he repeated, angrier, "YOU HAVE A STAND?!"

But something seemed to preoccupy Goth, "Those cubes...do you think I have them, too?"

Melvin walked backwards, getting distance between him and Goth. He replied, "I don't know! It depends on whether or not you're about to attack me…" He gulped, "I don't know what it is, but it brings out the worst in people."

She tilted her head at him, "What do you mean?" She took a step forward, and Melvin took a step back, "It seems like the cubes compel you to do what you need to do."

"Oh, come on!" Melvin cried, "Not you too, please!"

"Hm?" She gasped, "No, you don't think _I'm _affected by those too, right?" She scoffed at the idea. Upon another step forward, Melvin's aura flared, and tiny race cars circled out of him and drifted to a halt.

"Look, Goth," He said, "I specifically told my friends that you weren't a stand user, so the fact you're cubed is only insult to injury!"

"I'm not-"

"Shut up!" Melvin screamed, "Just stop talking to me!" He growled at her, "The fact that everything you're saying to me is-is those cubes-I can't stand it! I don't want to listen to some mystery man's stand!"

Goth screamed back at him, "Well if you hate it so much, why don't you do something about it?" She pointed at her skull, "Why don't you knock it out of me, huh?"

Melvin stood there, staring at her.

"What?" She laughed at him, "You're scared, aren't you? Scared that this'll be _another _stand fight where you get beat up, and this time to a girl, no less!"

"Shut up!" Melvin yelled.

"You're _so _strong," She mocked, "So strong, you lost _every single _stand fight you've EVER been in!" She cackled, "Do I even need to try against you?"

"SHUT UP! **SHINY TOYS!**"

The race cars' tires grinded against the ground, and shot forward. All at once, they jumped off the ground, six of them headed at high speeds right for Goth's face. But she didn't even move, or flinch. She did nothing to stop them. Then, like rocks, they fell to the ground, breaking the pavement under them. The wheels were still spinning, but they couldn't do anything.

"Care to try again, Melvy?"

He stared, dumbfounded as Goth stepped over his cars. He regained his focus, and surrounded himself with toy soldiers. All at once, they launched a barrage at Goth, only for those bullets to disappear before hitting her. Airplanes flew at her, but they fell to the ground like the cars. It only took a few steps, but Melvin tried everything in his arsenal before Goth was only a few inches away.

"Uh…" Melvin gulped, "I'm...sorry?"

Goth smiled at him, "That's nice to know."

**Stand name: Careless Whisper**

**Stand User: Goth**

**Power: D**

**Speed: B**

**Durability: D**

**Precision: B**

**Range: A**

**Potential: A**

**Ability: ?**

"I work for the speedwagon foundation," Jonas explained while holding a shirley temple in his hand, "It's a research...well, it's kind of an oil company, too, I guess, but look-my job is in the anomalous research department."

"What does that mean?" Donny asked.

"It means I look at weird stuff," Jonas smiled, "I look at the...weird stuff that the government doesn't tell people about. Aliens and stuff."

Donny asked Jordan, "Is that true?"

Jordan swallowed a nacho, "Well, as far as I know. He doesn't seem like it, but he is good at keeping secrets."

"Is that why you're here?" Donny leaned over at Jonas, "I mean, there's all sorts of weird stuff here."

Jonas nodded slowly with a confident smile before taking a sip of his drink. The two boys looked at each other, sharing a similar idea. Could it be that Jonas was here to investigate the presence of stands?

"Oh, shoot," Jonas looked at his watch, "I actually got to be somewhere. You think sixty dollars will cover this?"

"We ordered drinks and nachos," Jordan said.

"So yeah, sixty'll cover it," He dropped three twenty-dollar bills before leaving abruptly.

"Jeez," Donny sighed, "He...he's pretty wild."

Jordan shrugged, "That's just how he is."

"Do you think he's expecting his forty dollars back?" Donny asked.

Jordan shook his head, "This money is ours now."

The two of them stood up, getting excited for the amount of money they could waste with no regard, when Donny's phone range. He flipped it open. "Melvin," He said. He put it on speakerphone for Jordan to hear.

"_Heeyyyyyy guys,_" Melvin squeaked, "I've been forced to call you by this stand user who is currently holding me hostage."

Donny took him off speakerphone, and Jordan leaned in.

"Are you serious?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah," Melvin said, "It's a trap, by the way. But I guess that's obvious."

"Just tell us where you are," Jordan demanded.

Jonas carelessly hopped into his rusted van with a sweat dripping down his forehead. He looked down at his watch again. He sighed, knowing that he was gonna be late to meet his contact. He was lucky that the SpeedWagon Foundation was tight on agents, or he probably would be out of the job by now. He scrambled through the pockets of his jacket, past old tickets and candy wrappers, and pulled out his keys.

Before he could put them in the ignition, he heard a click and felt something metal poke at the back of his head. He had no fear, as this was familiar to him. In fact, a smile grew on his face.

"_Ahh, Mr. Johannes," _growled a deep voice from behind, "Do you know what my _favorite_ thing about Amerika is?"

Jonas turned his head, caring nothing for the gun pointed at his skull, "Ivan!" He cheered, "Didn't I tell you to stay the hell out of my country?!"

The gun was pushed up against him, "Quiet!" the mobster shouted, "My favorite thing about America is, it's so easy to get a gun here! Well, not that it was difficult in Russia, but I had to do all this _work_-"

"Ivan, why are you here?" Jonas asked, more annoyed than angry.

Ivan leaned forward, moving his scarred, square-jawed face into the light, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Jonas groaned, "Can't you just answer the question?" He completely turned around, giving zero acknowledgement to the gun, "Look, you know I can get out of this. And when I stop that bullet, you know that you physically can't stop me from beating you up."

Ivan clicked the hammer of the gun, "Your stand isn't fast enough to catch it."

Jonas rolled his eyes, "Fine, shoot me then."

Ivan gulped, "What?"

"Do it," Jonas said, "If you think you can, just shoot me."

Ivan contained the panic in his soul, _wait, can he really just take the bullet shot! _He steeled his resolve, _no, he can't! I have him where I want him! _And so, he shot the gun right at Jonas.

Then he was thrown out of the van.


	8. Relationship problems, part two

Donny and Jordan crouched outside of Melvin's house, staring at it from afar. They couldn't see anyone in the windows, but they knew that Melvin's kidnapper was somewhere inside, keeping Melvin tied in his own basement.

"Can it really be kidnapping if he's being kept in his own house?" Jordan pondered.

Donny put the binoculars aside, "It doesn't seem like there are any traps. Unless the stand is invisible. Well, more invisible than normal."

Jordan groaned, "Is every stand really unique?"

"Yeah, why?" Donny asked.

"It's just annoying to have to guess their ability every time, you know?" Jordan rubbed his head, "Are there any stands that have the same ability or something?"

"What, like similar types of stands having the same ability?" Donny laughed, "As if. Nah, we gotta learn every single one." Donny hopped over the bush and began walking to the cellar doors.

Jordan scolded him, "What are you doing?!"

"There aren't any traps," He opened the doors, "At least not inside. C'mon man, you can heal yourself, you don't get to be less paranoid than me."

The two of them descended into the basement, Donny holding his skateboard as a club, and Jordan's skin sparking with energy ready to summon his stand. With each step, the darkness took a hold of their nerves. Jordan summoned **Champion**, and his presence caused the lights of the basement to flare on. And in the corner of the room they saw Melvin, groggily blinking his eyes open while bound in ropes do a swivel chair.

"Hello?" He groaned.

"Melvin!" Jordan looked around the room. There were boxes, shelves, and various knick-knacks, but no enemy stand user. He and Donny ran over to Melvin, both starting to untie him.

"You couldn't get yourself out of this?" Donny mocked.

Melvin whipped his head towards Donny, "Nobody's here, don't worry," He said.

"Uh...yeah, I can see that," Donny said, an eyebrow raised, "You ok?"

Melvin glared at Donny, "I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for asking."

Jordan stood up, as he was sort of awkwardly fiddling with the rope instead of untying it while Donny was actually untying it. And in that moment in which he was stepping back, he was hit.

A jabbing pain in his back caused Jordan to cry out, and Jordan fell to the ground. Donny turned around, skateboard in hand, to see Goth and her stand floating beside her. Jordan was looking up at her, **Champion **forming above him.

"When did you get here?!" Jordan cried.

Before she could answer, Donny came swinging with his skateboard, aiming to dig the wheels right into her head. But she didn't flinch. She stared Donny right in the eyes during the attack, and for a second in his pubescent mind, a single thought clouded him…

"_Hey, she's kind of cute._"

Then his skateboard dropped to the ground, as did his hands. For a few seconds, his hands seemed to be bound to invisible rocks that trapped him. He yelled out, "Hey, what the hell?!" Before Goth kicked him in the ribs, knocking him over.

At that moment, Jordan straightened his posture and pointed at her, "**CHAMPION!**"

And not a second later, once **Champion **launched his lightning speed attack, he was already anchored to the floor, his red hand in a similar condition as Donny's.

"It's no use!" Melvin shouted, "You can't hit her!"

"Why didn't you tell us she was in here?!" Donny screamed.

"I _did!_" Melvin hissed, "You just didn't hear it!"

"Oh, be quiet, Melvy," Goth sighed, "Your advice is useless to them now. They're under the effect of my stand, **Careless Whisper**."

"We all are," Melvin admitted, "But I can still help them," He looked at the two, "This might be painful."

Both of them were pulled from their grovelling states, being dragged across the basement floor by small race cars on strings, bringing them to the staircase. Immediately, they began running up the stairs.

Goth looked to Melvin, "Really?"

"Hey, you should go chase them or they'll be back," Melvin mocked. Goth pouted, and stepped forward to chase them, "_Buuuut_," Melvin said, "If you run, I'll escape."

"Shut up, Melvy," And then she knocked him out.

Jordan thought it would be a good idea to stop for a second and close the cellar doors, and then ran a few feet, grabbed a rake, ran back, and put it in between the handles. As soon as he was done, **Careless Whisper **broke though, sending shards of wood into his face. He began to run away, Goth sauntering calmly behind him.

Jordan looked back when he caught up with Donny at the sidewalk, "She's just _walking _calmly!"

"Just keep running, Jordan!" Donny cried, "It's all we can do when we can't fight back!"

And at that moment, their entire environment changed. It's like their surroundings span around, and were replaced by something else. It was the exact same street, only they were facing the opposite direction, and Goth was standing just about three meters away from them.

"We can't even run away!" Donny cried.

**Champion **flew forward again, hesitating before trying to launch a barrage. Jordan attempted some form of strategy, suddenly changing the attack to a kick, but all that did was force his knee to the ground. **Careless Whisper **attacked with a kick of its own, which **Champion **tried to block, but got knocked back. The stand was just too strong.

"Damn it!" Jordan yelled.

Goth stared at Donny, "Well? Aren't you going to do anything?"

Donny gulped, "No."

"Good." And with no defenses, Donny could only watch as **Careless Whisper **reeled back a final attack, hoping to go right through Donny's head.

"_**Holy Gamoly!**_"

Goth turned around, cancelling the attack to see who she was hearing. Behind her she saw the hulking, tall, beast of a man that was Jonas Johannes.

"You have a stand?" Jonas asked, staring at Jordan.

Jordan looked back at him, "Do you?"

Jonas started walking forward, apparently oblivious of the situation, "No way! How long?"

Jordan stammered, "Um-"

Goth charged up to him, "Hey, you!" Her stand was there beside her, readying an attack.

"Oh, one second, Jordan," Jonas looked down at her.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up now!" With rage in here eyes, her stand swung her hand at Jonas's head, threatening to shatter his skull. The attack landed, hitting the side of his head, but it seems that right before the attack hit, his face was shrouded in a transparent helmet. His entire body was surrounded in a bright orange aura.

"You got a lot of nerve attacking my nephew," Jonas said, barely even reacting to the attack. Goth was going to pull back for another attack, but a giant metallic arm had latched itself onto her stand's wrist. She was able to swing her arm back and break free, though it seemed like it was simply because Jonas didn't feel like spending the energy.

"My stand, **Rocket Man**, is one of the best stands around if you're counting sheer destructive power," Jonas stepped forward to reveal his full stand. A giant, silver metal figure with nuts and bolts that spit steam around the whole body.. The smooth, bright armor resembled the plating of a rocket ship or jet plane. Small, aerodynamic fins laid sticked out around each joint, especially the knuckles. The only organic part was the closed and silent mouth, with the rest of the face being covered by a thick orange visor.

"Now I'm going to ask you politely," He cleared his throat, "Please stay away from my nephew and his friend."

"Or what?" Goth smiled.

"Simple," Jonas said, "I'm going to punch you."

Goth smiled more, "Bite me, asshole."

Jordan saw the large, powerful stand reel back its fist for an attack. Jordan wanted to yell out at Jonas to stop, but he doubted that would do anything. Just like before, as the attack came for her, Goth stood perfectly still. Jonas would just be another enemy to fall into the trap of **Careless Whisper**.

Then she was knocked to the other side of the street in one punch.

**Stand User: Jonas Johannes**

**Stand name: Rocket Man**

**Power: A**

**Speed: D**

**Durability: C**

**Precision: A**

**Range: B**

**Potential: E**

**Stand ability: When Rocket Man hits a target, the effects of gravity on it will be lost. **

Jonas seemed bored.

"She didn't even defend herself," He chuckled, "I almost feel bad. _Almost_."

Jordan looked over to Goth, who was trying to get up. He went through this enough times that he knew she wasn't out of the fight yet. She needs to be knocked out if she is to be de-cubed. Jonas helped him stand up.

"Look, Jonas," He said, "She's gonna try and attack again. For some reason, we can't attack her, but you can."

"Well, if her only ability to stop people from attacking her, then I've already beat her," He shrugged.

"She has another ability," Donny added, "I think we were-teleported over here when we were running away."

Jonas nodded, and started slowly walking over to her. Technically speaking, this might have been the most powerful stand Jordan's encountered so far. Other stands have damaged him worse, but he was afraid that Goth could kill him in seconds if she really wanted to. On the other hand, Jonas just seemed bored.

Goth managed to stand up, facing Jonas on the edge of the road. They stared at each other for a moment.

"You gonna explain how that stand works?" Jonas asked.

"Why would I do that?" She retorted.

Jonas nodded, "Fair point. What if I explain to you what my stand does, and you explain why my nephew couldn't attack you?"

She stared at him.

"I'm going to assume that's agreement," He cleared his throat, "**Rocket Man **has the ability to release the effects of gravity on any object it hits. That doesn't mean it floats around like nothing-that means the inertia in the object makes it fly off the surface of the earth at high speeds."

"Sounds like an instant kill," Goth said.

"True. That's why I use it mostly on objects." He crossed his arms.

"Ok," She sighed, "**Careless Whisper **nullifies any attack if the person making it feels guilt. Your nephew felt bad he was punching a girl." She narrowed her eyes, "But not you, I guess."

"Not me."

A moment of silence passed. Around six seconds of Goth standing absolutely still. Suddenly, she vanished from Jonas's sight. His mind was flushed with confusion. Through his clouded thoughts he heard Jordan's voice, "She's behind you!"

Sure enough, **Careless Whisper's **hand was driven into his shoulder. The damage was shielded by **Rocket Man**, but blood still managed to fly from the wound. Before Goth could launch another attack, The ground beneath her exploded outward. A single kick from **Rocket Man **onto the asphalt created a crater and an explosion that managed to push her back.

"Jonas! It's time! Her ability is to stop time!" Jordan shouted.

_No it's not,_ Jonas thought, _I would know if it's stopping time. _As those thoughts entered his mind, **Rocket Man **launched a barrage of punches into the ground around him, causing bits of rock to explode into the air around him. But right before they went into the stratosphere, they hovered around Jonas, visibly vibrating and shaking in the air.

"I call this move _asteroid belt_!" Jonas cheered, "I have a lot of space-themed abilities."

"Shut up," Goth growled. She and her stand lunged forward, taking a direct route toward Jonas. But he didn't even flinch. He simply watched the rocks around him. A second later, **Rocket Man **threw a slow, heavy punch to his right. Jordan felt panic as he saw Goth almost land a hit on an exposed Jonas.

But in a second, that Goth disappeared. A new Goth materialised at the end of **Rocket Man's **fist, sending her flying across the road once again.

With Goth a few good meters away, Jonas called to her, "Your ability is altering appearance, or memory, or something, right?"

She struggled to get up after two solid punches from **Rocket Man**, "How did you know it wasn't stopping time?

"I just did," Jonas said. The rocks around him dropped back down, "And I knew where you were attacking because you forgot to replace the rocks you moved out of the way."

Goth slowly stood up, and put her hands up, "Ok, ok," She said groggily, "I'm...in no condition to fight. Please, I'll...you'll never see me again."

Jonas sighed, "All right. I take people at their word, you know."

Goth smiled, and didn't say anything for a moment, "Thank you, sir."

"No!" Jordan yelled, "She's tricking you! She's going to keep attacking until you knock her out!"

Goth seemed to teleport yet again, swinging a punch from behind Jonas at the back of his head. Before that attack even landed, **Rocket Man **launched a counter attack, landing directly onto Goth's stand. She was thrown into the air, but this time, she hovered there, vibrating like the rocks earlier.

"**Rocket Man **can keep a target suspended midair," Jonas said, "You're basically stuck in between gravity and no gravity, thrown between those two states a hundred times a second in order to keep you suspended right there. It's nauseating." He adjusted his jacket. "So I have to knock you out, right? Ok. I'll do that, I guess." **Rocket Man **readied the attack.

"**FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY ME TO THE MOON!**"

And just like that, Jordan's uncle beat the shit out of Melvin's girlfriend. At the edge of the street, they could all see the cubes leak out of her ear.

Melvin was finally introduced to Jonas at the curb outside his house. They all sat down to debrief on what just happened over a few cream sodas Melvin had, and that's when Melvin saw the wall of a man.

"So you're the guy who beat up my girlfriend?"

"She was your girlfriend?" Jonas began to laugh hysterically.

Melvin took the jokes in stride, and they all began to wind down and start some small talk. Then Goth came walking back up, bruised and defeated. She was cautious, but Jordan quickly assured her that they were perfectly aware she was of no harm to them anymore.

"Sorry…" She said meekly.

"No prob," Jordan said, "This stuff kind of happens."

"The cube stuff?" Goth asked.

"Yeah," Jordan said, "How do you know?"

Melvin explained that she was able to read his memories with her stand.

"Wait," Donny said, "Do you...know what caused our cube things?"

Goth paused, "No, not really...sorry. Melvin doesn't remember, at least."

"As far as you know," Jordan stood up, "What if this...thing is repressing the memories of when it took hold of you?"

Donny and Melvin looked at each other. Jonas spoke up, "I don't really know what's going on, but from my experience, it's best that we check this."

Jordan looked at Melvin, "Are you willing to have your memories read again?"

Reluctantly, Melvin stood back up. **Careless Whisper **took hold of his head, and the silver screen came close to his eyes. Memories of all kinds were flashing on the visor, showing their small adventures so far. Then, without warning, a purple aura took hold of Goth's stand. She was thrown back, and her stand twisted and torn under the weight of the stand.

"Goth, are you ok?!" Melvin called.

"Yeah," Goth said through gritted teeth, "But you were right, Jordan. I didn't get much from it, though."

Jordan walked over, and caught her before she fell over, "What _did _you get?"

"What actually happened is gone," She explained, "But what caused it remains."

**Careless Whisper **projected an image. Something they haven't seen before. Against a purple background, they saw a muscular figure. Similar to that of a Roman or Greek statue, the figure was chiselled to perfection. On every joint, including knuckles, a dangerous spike stuck out, a trend that proceeded up to the face, with smaller spikes where stubble would be, and larger ones across the head where hair would be. It was a large, looming presence that demanded power.

"This is the stand we must look for."

Then she said it's name:

"**99 Problems!**"


	9. A different kind of fight

**Most stand users gain stands not through their inherent resolve, but by the use of stand arrows, including the stand users of Riverford. The Speedwagon Foundation carefully tracks each of these arrows, trying to make sure that none of them get into the wrong hands. However, in 1992, Europe exploded with stand users under the employment of a Russian mafia. The only explanation was that the mob boss obtained a stand arrow of his own. Despite this, there were no records substantiating the presence of a stand arrow in Russia. **

**Jonas Johannes was sent on a mission, at first to save an unrelated person, but soon evolved to be finding this mysterious source of stands, and defeat the mob boss who commanded these stand users. It was revealed that the mob boss had under his employ a man named Ivan, a stand user who controlled the stand called "**_**Stand by me**_" **a stand that could create one-time use arrows that dissolve after being stabbed into someone. **

**After defeating the mob, Jonas told Ivan to never go to America, or else he would beat the devil out of him. However, the Speedwagon Foundation had tracked down his whereabouts to the town of Riverford, and dispatched Jonas to defeat him. **

Jonas found a payphone near the outskirts of town to call the foundation. He needed to, since he was holding Ivan by the collar of his shirt while his limbs and mouth were bound by duct tape, and that would look pretty suspicious to anyone watching him.

A voice came from the phone, "Hello, this is the Speedwagon-"

"Jonas Johannes," He interrupted, "I have Ivan with me. I need you to send someone here to get him."

"Uhh, ok," Said the operator. Jonas had called a special number for stand users on foundation missions, so they knew what he was doing, "Why aren't you going to bring him to us yourself?"

"Do you have records of a stand arrow in Northern California?" He asked.

The operator was silent for a moment, "Can I get back to you on that? We need more time to check that stuff."

"Darn," Jonas swore, "Look, there are _a lot _of stand users in this town. There's probably an arrow here," Before the operator could ask, he said, "Ivan said that he had nothing to do with the stand users here, and didn't even know they existed. Then I fought a teenage girl with a stand. Also, my nephew has a stand and so do two of his friends-"

"Mr. Johannes," The operator interrupted, "Slow down. We'll send someone to pick up Ivan. Stay as long as you need."

"You've really come out of your shell, Jordan!"

One of Jordan's classes that he took for his first year was beginner's drama. At first, he rarely participated in the stupid games that tried to get people to open up. However, almost dying three times in the course of four months makes acting seem a lot less terrifying. So it made sense that his teacher would tell him he's been coming out of his shell.

Only, his teacher wasn't telling him that. It was this girl in his drama class. A short-statured and short-haired brunette girl that usually took the lead in the drama games. Jordan didn't even know her name, actually.

"Ok. Thanks," He said. He went to leave for his next period.

"Oh, hey," She called. Jordan stopped and looked at her. She seemed a bit nervous, "Uhh..do you want to like, hang out at all? After school?"

Jordan sighed, "No thanks."

_I'm not falling for that, _Jordan thought, _shouldn't she know how similar that is to the strategy Donny used to jump me? Yeah, right._ Jordan wasn't in the mood for getting in a stand fight. It had been almost a month since the fight with Goth, and he was getting ready for Halloween.

After describing this situation to Donny and Melvin during lunch, they both loudly groaned with disappointment.

"Really, dude?" Melvin asked.

"What?" Jordan shrugged.

"That was a girl asking you out," Donny said, "Not, like, explicitly, but it was close."

"No way," Jordan scoffed, "What am I even doing to get a girl to like me?"

Melvin glared at him, "You don't _do _something, innocent Jojo. It just happens. A girl is just attracted to you sometimes."

"Oh yeah," Jordan scoffed, "I'm just _being myself_, and a girl just happens to like me? Sure. Sure. No, she's definitely a stand user."

"And if she is?" Melvin asked.

"Beat her up and then date her after," Donny said, "It worked with Melvin."

Jordan glared back at Melvin, "You're _still _dating Goth?"

Melvin shrugged as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Unbelievable."

"She's been decubed," Melvin said, "And you know what? We're still good together. It's beautiful."

"Well, one half of the relationship is beautiful," Donny said.

"Hey!"

Jordan was right. On the walk home, he caught that girl tailing him. She was being fairly obvious about it. He'd never seen her on his route home before, yet there she was. He decided to ambush her to make sure she didn't get the drop on him. When he was walking through the park, he dipped behind a tree during one of the turns. Sure enough, she came around.

She saw that Jordan wasn't there, and stopped. She scanned the surroundings, so Jordan ducked further behind the tree. Then she looked frustrated. "Dang it!" She exclaimed. She turned to go home.

At that moment, Jordan jumped out from behind the tree, "**CHAMPION!**"

His stand came barrelling out in an explosion of electricity, and cocked back its fists as she turned to face him. She screamed as she did, clearly startled by his surprise attack. _My first stand fight I'm gonna win instantly! _Jordan celebrated.

"**YA-T-**"

**Champion **stopped. Its fist came within inches of her face, yet there was no response. Maybe she was faking it like Goth?

"**Ya-ta?**" Another test punch. No reaction. "**Ya-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta...ta-ta?**" No reaction from any of the test punches.

"Hey, what the hell?!" She yelled, apparently not at the stand trying to attack her.

Jordan stared at her, looking past **Champion **to see what the deal was. He ignored her question, asking, "Why were you following me?"

"I wasn't-following you!" She yelled, frustrated, "Look, my house is that-that way, and I was just walking the same way."

"Why today?" Jordan interrogated.

"What?"

"Why, _specifically_, today did you take this route?" He walked closer to her. He was wondering if she was faking not being able to see his stand.

She shook her head in frustrated disbelief, "I wanted to see…if I could talk to you," She crossed her arms, "Since you said you didn't want to hang out, this seemed like the next best thing."

Jordan put his stand away. "So," He said, "You're not...trying to kill me?"

"Oh my God, no, _what_?" Now she was concerned, "Why would you possibly even think that?"

_Oh my god, _Jordan thought, _she's not a stand user._

"To be honest…" Jordan paused, "I guess I...I just have some trust issues. I'm sorry."

She didn't say anything.

"Hey, what's your name?" Jordan asked.

"May."

"Ok, May," Jordan said, "If you wanna...hang out like you said, we can. I guess I should try and trust people more."

For a moment, it looked like she changed her mind.

"Ok," May said.


	10. Cha Cha Slide

(Hi. Sorry for the really long delay in chapters, if you wondered what happened to this fic. Basically, I got really busy, then lost interest in writing. Someone close to me told me to continue writing it, so here I am. This chapter has quite a bit of content, in case you wanted a lot more.)

The election of 2000. Quite a controversial election. The debate about Gore vs. Bush is currently turning the country inside out. All because Florida couldn't count reliably. In Riverford, however, things are quite the same. Mayor Brannigan won the fifth time in a row, with absolutely no competition. It's not really winning when you're doing so good that nobody runs against you.

Mayor Brannigan takes a drive through the city of Riverford, watching his citizens pass by. He stopped by for a particular citizen, one that was important to his continued administration: A 17-year-old senior of Riverford High, Roman Stratus. The big, buff, buzz-cutted buffoon got into the car. Brannigan began to drive again.

"Report?" He asked.

"As far as I know," He said, "Four of our users have gone…" He stared at the pedestrians with a hatred, "Including my sister." He turned to the mayor in a rage, "I'm TELLING you, man, it's that FRESHMAN!"

"Calm down," The mayor ordered, "We know who's been doing this. That new guy, the one with the old van? He hasn't been subtle. He's been talking about stands in public, after all."

"Let's just ask our users," Roman begged.

"No!" The mayor yelled, "We can't do that. That would risk us losing our cover! They must not know that we know about **99 Problems**!" He clenched his fist. In that moment, a purple aura permeated from him. Roman fell into a respectful silence, as his eyes glowed purple upon the activation of the powerful stand.

"Roman," The mayor said, "In the backseat, there's a blanket. Look under it."

Roman turned around slowly, and pulled back the cloth. All he needed to do was see the gold tip and a glimpse of a pattern. "The arrow," He gasped, "Am I trustworthy enough to hold it?"

"You've been a part of this since your freshman year of high school," The mayor assured him, "You're just as trustworthy as the rest of **The Team**."

Roman was shaking at the idea of just holding it, "What do I need to do with it?" He asked.

"That freshman you were talking about," The mayor said, "We need a new user. Someone we can keep a close eye on and make sure they're going to be a part of our team."

"Him?" Roman paused, "He doesn't have the resolve to survive the arrow! He'll die!"

"Roman," The mayor said, "I need you to do this. He may not have the resolve, sure. But if he does, then we can use him to get close to Roman, and get rid of him."

Roman grit his teeth. He grabbed the arrow, and felt its weight in his hand. "Ok," He said, "I won't let you down."

**Riverford fun fact: It has its own unique species of crab that live on its beaches.**

"The influence of **99 Problems **has an influence I don't think we'll ever know," Melvin decreed, "But we have to try and narrow down who's responsible. More specifically, who's the user of the stand."

It was a meeting of the "We-tried-to-beat-up-Jordan club." There was Jordan, Melvin, Donny, Lars, and Goth. Jonas was also there, but he never tried to beat up Jordan.

"I think it's Victor," Lars said, "He's gotta be. You know, the popular guy at school? The captain of the varsity football team?"

"He isn't even a stand user," Donny said, "Besides, you think he'd settle with football captain? He isn't even class president."

"And the class president _is _a stand user," Goth added.

"The mayor?" Donny pitched.

"That geezer?" Lars scoffed, "Nah. Dude donates to charity, man."

"I think it's a good idea if we just go through every stand user we know until we find the right one," Goth said, "It's the most productive way, right?"

"Does anyone here know all the stand users in Riverford?" Jonas asked, finally pitching in.

"I know every one," Lars said, "But I don't know what all of their stands are."

"Did you know Goth was a stand user?" Melvin asked.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Lars shrugged, "I thought you knew."

Donny leaned over to Jordan, "Hey, what are your thoughts, man?"

Jordan had been zoning off for the past ten minutes. The dark room (Melvin's attic window hasn't been replaced yet) with nothing more than a light bulb to illuminate it made him feel strangely alone, despite being shoulder-to-shoulder between Goth and Donny.

He felt this way because he had been on _one _date with May. It went very well, considering that Jordan had never done it before. But then they just...hadn't been talking in class. He was too nervous, or something. He didn't really know what the next step was.

"Jordan!" Donny called.

"Hm?"

"What are your thoughts?"

Jordan nodded, "Yeah...I think it's a good idea."

"Well, that's great," Melvin said, "Except, you're gonna be useless for this."

"How so?" Jordan asked, secretly trying to find out what he just agreed to.

"You don't know any stand users other than us," Donny said.

Jordan scanned his mind, "That's not true," He said, "I know one." He struggled to remember the name for a moment, "Yeah. Roman. You mentioned that he has a stand, right? The dumb guy who threatened me the first day."

Then everyone looked at Goth. Jordan wasn't sure why.

"Roman is my brother," She explained, "Not only is he too dumb to be doing this, but I'd know if he was responsible for this. Trust me, he has nothing to do with **99 Problems**."

**Stand name: Careless Whisper**

**Stand User: Goth**

**Power: D**

**Speed: B**

**Durability: D**

**Precision: B**

**Range: A**

**Potential: A**

**Ability: Can read long-term memory, and alter short-term. Also nullifies attacks if the attacker feels guilt. **

Homecoming is a topic that Jordan had never really thought of, but seeing the posters plastered around school since November first made him start thinking. It might as well be the first "party" he ever goes to. He might love it.

"Don't get your hopes up, Jojo," Said Donny, appearing behind him. "Jojo" had become a name that his friends used to mock him occasionally.

"Don't get my hopes up about what?"

"Stand users don't go to dances," Donny decreed, "Lest there be a stand fight and blow all of our cover."

"What, so a bunch of stand users get in one place, and all of a sudden, they all start fighting?" Jordan asked, accusingly. They were talking loudly for being outside with random people just walking by.

"Yes," Donny nodded, "Here's why: We never use our stands for most of our lives, and we're itchin' to use em. And then we get into a little dispute with someone who also has a stand. What happens?"

"A fight?"

"That's right," Donny patted Jordan on the shoulder, "That's why we don't really like the idea of Melvin and Goth being together. Stand users aren't supposed to date, lest the break-up start a civil war."

"I thought you didn't know about Goth and Melvin," Jordan said.

"I didn't, but I'm still afraid of the break-up," He shook his head, "Look, Jordan, point is, we don't go to school dances, ok?"

"No."

Donny stared at him, "What?"

Jordan looked back at Donny, "I refuse," He crossed his arms.

"Jordan," Donny got serious, "If you go, then every other stand user is gonna start going. I mean, Roman already goes because he's part of the football team-"

"Good," Jordan interrupted, "I want to go to school dances with my friends," _And also a date, if possible, _"And a lot of my friends just so happen to be stand users."

Donny seemed disturbed by this, but couldn't muster any resistance. "Ok," He grumbled, "If anything goes wrong, it's on you."

Jordan could feel something in his chest. Some pressure, like something was keeping his lungs from expanding to their full size. It made his stomach feel queasy. It made his knees weak. And it happened whenever he got within 10 feet of May.

He knew that he had to ask her out. At least once before asking her to homecoming. This was very specific advice Jonas gave him.

"You don't want to just ask her to homecoming on the second date," Jonas said, "You don't even have the privilege of saying you're 'dating' her yet." So he determined at least third date would have to be homecoming. Maybe third if she had the time. She was busier than him.

During downtime in drama class, he was sitting at the back of class on a beanbag just sort of staring at her, not doing anything. The same few possibilities replayed a thousand times in his head as he debated how he was gonna ask her out. It took a long time to get out of that beanbag.

Finally, he managed to get up and walk over to her. She didn't notice him standing there a few seconds before he said, "Ummm ...hi."

She turned around, "Oh, hi." She smiled.

Jordan nodded and paused for a moment, "Can I sit next to you?"

"Sure," She was obviously enjoying the awkwardness Jordan displayed.

Jordan sat down next to her and paused again. He spat out, "I want-I want to go out with you again."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

For a moment, they just sat in silence. May stared at him, smiling.

"Well, do you want to?"

"Yeah," She giggled.

"Oh, ok," Jordan laughed, "You could have just said that."

"I liked seeing you struggle."

Roman stuffed at least three Funyons in his mouth before throwing the bag in the nearest trash can. The store clerk that told him he has to pay for them can suck it. He could feel the arrow heavy in his belt, concealed mostly by his shirt and jacket. He's 90% sure that it looks like he's concealing a firearm. He felt the phone in his pocket vibrate.

"Hello?"

"Mom wants to know where you are, doofus," Goth says on the other line.

Roman snorts, "Shut up. Why does she want to know where I am?"

Goth scoffs, "You're supposed to meet with your counsellors."

Roman pulled the phone away for a second to curse, "Look, she can meet with them on her own. I'm busy, bitch."

"Did you just call me a-" And then Roman hung up.

He took out the map of Jordan's route home to check once again. A line went across downtown, up through a park, and to a set of suburbs. He knew that the best place would be the lightly forested areas of the park to stab him with the arrow. Then if he died (which Roman assumed he would) he could also easily dispose of the body.

He hid in a parking lot around a bend where Jordan takes a turn. After that, Roman can safely follow him. He'd been tailing Jordan for the last few days, observing his route. This is always where he started tailing Jordan.

3:13 came. That was the time Jordan usually came around that bend. But not today. 3:15 came. Pretty late, but not implausible. By 3:23, Jordan was usually home. Coming 3:20, he didn't show up. Unusual. Maybe he had something else that day.

As he was checking his watch, he heard the crunching of asphalt behind him. Roman ignored it.

"I have to ask you something, sir," Said a voice.

"Beat it," Roman grumbled.

"No." Roman felt a large hand grab his shoulder and whip him around. He looked directly into the orange irises of Jonas Johannes.

"You?" Roman backed away. The way Roman understood, he was the guy decubing every stand user in Riverford. A formidable threat, but Roman was pretty sure that he could handle Jonas.

"Me," Jonas said, "Now explain to me why you've been tailing my nephew every day."

"What?"

"That's right," Jonas said, "I know you've been tailing him. How? Because I tail him every day, to make sure no one's been tailing him."

Roman grit his teeth. Jonas saw a unique rage inside of this man. "You beat up my sister," He growled.

Jonas was unphased, "That I did. And I'm about to do the same to you."

A dark green aura tainted with specks of purple surrounded Roman, "Bring it, then. I've got a job to do."

Jonas cracked his neck.

"**ROCKET MAN**!"

The metal stand came out in a burst of steam, winding up a punch to Roman's face. With a booming "**FLY!**" It flew forward. But Roman vanished before the hit made contact. Jonas pulled his stand back into a defensive position.

"Two stands that do some weird teleporting trick," Jonas grumbled, "What a chore."

Roman pointed at Jonas, "Now listen here, old man," His stand began to appear beside him, "With the power of my stand, I could kill you with ease."

Jonas chuckled, "You have no idea."

"Now tell me," Roman demanded, "Where is Jordan Johannes?!"

"Not here," Jonas told him.

Meanwhile, Jordan was being crushed in DDR by May.

**Stand User: Jonas Johannes**

**Stand name: Rocket Man**

**Power: A**

**Speed: D**

**Durability: C**

**Precision: A**

**Range: B**

**Potential: E**

**Stand ability: When Rocket Man hits a target, the effects of gravity on it will be lost. **

"**FLY!**"

Another attack from Jonas's stand was ineffective. He turned, thinking Roman would be behind him again, but before he could attack, Roman kicked him deep in the ribs with combat boots. Then, something started to grow Jonas's throat. He felt tiny balls lodge itself in his windpipe, completely blocking his breathing. Each second, more appeared in his neck and lungs.

"I told you," Roman said, "I could kill you with ease." A lime green aura was resting around his body as Jonas clawed at his own neck. A second later, Jonas was gasping for breath as everything blocking his breathing disappeared.

"With the power of my stand, **Cha Cha Slide**, I can move anything anywhere I want, as long as it's not in another object," Roman explained as Jonas coughed blood onto the asphalt, "I moved some nearby pebbles into your windpipe. I could also move my pocket knife into your mouth, if you want. Depending on how much you ate, I might be able to move it into your stomach."

Jonas stood up, still shaking from the pain, "Do you mean teleport?"

"What?"

"You keep saying 'move.' Your stand doesn't move things, it teleports things," Jonas scoffed, "It's confusing, that's all."

Roman stared at him, dumbfounded. _Is he serious?_ He thought, _Is he really correcting the words I'm using? _The vein in Roman's forehead pressed against his skin. He grit his teeth. "You think I'm an idiot or something?!" He yelled, "I'll fucking kill you!"

Roman went to throw a haymaker at Jonas. The fist collided into his jaw, causing Jonas's huge body to stumble backward. Jonas caught himself, wiping the blood off his chin, "You're a pretty strong dude. I didn't expect you to hurt me that much." Jonas brought out his stand once again, rushing forward for a volley of attacks. "**FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-!**"

None of the attacks hit Roman, who easily moved out of the way of each of them. He mocked while dodging, "Geez, man, how is it possible you beat anyone with that stand? It's probably the slowest stand I've ever seen!"

Roman appeared behind Jonas once again, and drove his pocket knife into his shoulder. Blood stained Jonas's white jacket. Jonas tried to turn around and sock Roman, but he vanished again and stabbed him in the side. Another attempt saw Roman slashing him across the cheek.

After getting a safe distance away, Roman mocked, "God, how are you this bad at fighting?"

Jonas panted, holding the wound at his side. **Rocket Man **was recalled. He seemed calm, despite the situation. He said to Roman, "You're putting me in a pretty tough situation here, buddy. I don't like having to patch up this jacket. It's my favorite!"

Roman yelled back, "You're gonna have to worry about a lot more than that!" He stepped forward, readying another attack. Jonas felt his breath blocked by something again. More sharp rocks were lodged into his windpipe. Roman kept stepping forward, teleporting more and more into Jonas.

"This is it, Jonas," He said, "You die here."

Since Jonas couldn't speak, he spoke through **Rocket Man**, "_Idiot kid," _He said, "_I've fought stand users far more dangerous than you. If I died to you, I'd decline my invitation to heaven out of shame." _

"Tough words," Roman turned to leave, "For someone about to choke on rocks."

Jonas leaned forward, opening his mouth wide. **Rocket Man **reeled its fist back and sunk it into Jonas's chest. The stand touched each of the rocks. Like a shotgun, the rocks exploded in a shower of blood toward Roman, each of them hitting his body and digging into his body.

"What the fuck!" Roman yelled. He fell to the ground, holding his wounds.

Jonas coughed out a lot of blood onto the ground, and wiped it away with his sleeve. He rasped out, "That...was extremely painful. I wonder if Melvin can heal internal wounds."

"You're fucking insane!" Roman yelled. He began to lift himself up.

"Don't even bother getting up," Jonas said, his stand ready to attack, "I know how your-" He stopped. He completely froze while pointing at Roman.

Roman looked back at Jonas, "What? What are you doing?" Roman looked at his belt, and saw that the arrow was no longer concealed by his jacket. He looke at Jonas, then the arrow, then back a few times. "Oh…" He got up, "I take it you know what this is?"

"Where did you get that?" Jonas demanded.

"So you know what this is," Roman sighed, "That's really not good."

"I'm going to be taking it now," Jonas said.

"What?" Roman laughed, "how are you gonna get this with a stand as slow as yours?"

"**FLY!**"

All **Rocket Man **had to do was punch the air in front of him, and a gust of wind shot forward, hitting Roman's hand and sent the arrow into a brick wall. Jonas did this by removing the effect of gravity on the air in front of him. Roman saw what happened, and turned to run at the arrow.

"No, you don't! **Rocket Man!**" Jonas's stand came up from behind and punched Roman in the back, sending him flying into the air as the effects of gravity left him. Once he was quite a few feet in the air, Jonas froze him there by turning his ability on and off so fast he didn't move from that spot.

"You bastard! Let me down!" Roman yelled.

As Jonas calmly walked up to the arrow, he mocked, "Why? Just teleport yourself over here," He grabbed the arrow, "Oh wait. You can't. Your stand only moves objects if its about….10 feet away, right?"

Roman glared at him.

"Or is it shorter? I couldn't really tell, and I've been switching between the metric and imperial system so quickly that distance means nothing to me anymore." He walked right under where Roman was levitating, "Now, drop to the earth."

"Wait-wait!" Roman began to plummet back down to Jonas, and he saw **Rocket Man **emerge from his orange aura.

"Now it's time to get rid of those cubes in your head!"

"**FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY-FLY ME TO TH-**"

Jonas realized he wasn't actually hitting anything. Roman was gone! Before he could search for where he went to, Jonas felt the weight in his hand disappear. The arrow was gone too!

"Yeah, **Cha Cha Slide **isn't a perfect stand," Roman said from behind Jonas, "Like if something is too fast, I can't focus on it, or that it only works in a certain range," He saw Jonas turn around, ready for another flurry, "But it's biggest ability is the fact that it can teleport _me _wherever I want!" Roman vanished once again before Jonas's attack. He was on top of the building in front of him.

"Get back here!" Jonas yelled, "If you were gonna fight Jordan instead of me, Jordan's stand is a lot faster than mine!"

Roman squinted at Jonas, "What did you just say?"

"I said it's better to fight my stand than Jordan's!" Jonas yelled, "It's _really _fast!"

_So Jordan Johannes already has a stand,_ Roman thought, _that ruins our whole plan. Well, that's not saying much since meeting Jonas here already did that. _

Without another word, Roman teleported away. Jonas tried to follow by jumping onto that building, but when he looked around the town, Roman was nowhere to be found.


	11. Take on Me, Part One

Jonas told the rest of the group about the situation when they met at the park. Specifically, Jordan, Donny, and Melvin were all there.

"So Roman has the arrow, and he was gonna stab Jordan?" Donny asked, "That seems pretty stupid. Why not use a normal knife?"

"Not sure," Jonas said, "It's possible that he didn't know that Jordan had a stand, and was trying to give him one."

"More importantly," Melvin interjected, "Why would he be carrying the arrow?"

Jordan stopped the conversation, "Hey, hey guys. What is the arrow?" The three of them looked at Jordan.

"How did you get a stand?" Melvin asked.

"I always had it," Jordan answered. He looked at the other two confused.

"Let me explain," Jonas said, "You and I, Jordan, we both have stands from birth. But most people get their stands from artifacts that take the form of arrows. If they kill you, you don't get a stand, but if you survive getting shot by them, you get a stand."

"I was hit by the arrow when I was taking out the trash," Melvin said, remembering how the arrow split open the whole trash bag and dug into his spine.

"It got me while skating," Donny said, remembering how it hit him in the leg and made him fall down a rocky hill.

"Who shot the arrow at you?" Jordan asked.

"In Riverford, the arrow just flies around and randomly hits people," Melvin explained, "It's either random, or chooses people."

"I've never actually encountered a real stand arrow," Jonas said, "I've only seen...artificial ones, I guess. But from what I know, I'm not sure if the arrows have the capacity to choose on their own."

Jordan spoke up, "And if the arrow does choose on its own, how did Roman obtain it at all?"

"Oof-" A soccer ball hit Donny in the chest. A few kids ran over.

"Hey, kick it back!" One of them yelled. Donny dropped it, and kicked it back over.

"What free spirits," Donny said, "They don't even have nets set up. They're just kicking a ball for the hell of it."

Jordan saw the kids kicking the ball, and laughed a little. Jonas put a hand on his shoulder. "Jordan," he said, "It might be dangerous for you now. We can either wait, or go after Roman before he goes after us."

"I can tell Goth about this," Melvin said, "She'll know what to do."

Jonas nodded, "I'll go do more research on the stand arrow. For now, none of you leave each other's sights. We don't know if Roman or someone else is going to attack again. Can I trust all of you?"

"Yes, sir!" They all said. Donny saluted.

"Good," He high-fived each of them before leaving.

"Well, he basically gave us a reason to hang out more," Donny said, "What do you guys want to do?"

"The arts center has a gallery going on," Jordan said, "We could do that." He pointed to the arts center, which was at the edge of the park and still in sight.

"Lame," Donny scoffed, "We're teenagers, why would we look at art? We should be looking at...I don't know, boobs or something."

"Real mature, Donny," Melvin jeered.

"I'm just being honest," Donny said, "Maturity is honest."

"Out of all of us, you're probably the most immature person here," Melvin said.

"Hey," Jordan held a hand in front of Melvin, "You know, I actually think that, despite how he may seem, Donny is pretty mature. I have an English class with him. He made a very good speech on the environment."

Donny smiled, "Thank you, Jordan," He looked at Melvin, "See, if Jojo says it, it must be true."

Another rogue kick sent the soccer ball flying at Donny. Jordan reached out his hand to stop it. One of the kids yelled, "Hey, watch out!" Donny didn't seem to notice, but luckily, he didn't need to.

"**YATA!**" **CHAMPION **lept out and socked the soccer ball away, sending it flying across the horizon. The kids yelled insults at Donny as they ran after it.

"Uhh…" Donny looked at Jordan, "Appreciated, but I don't think you needed to do that, Jojo."

Jordan raised an eyebrow, "I didn't do that."

Donny pointed to **Champion **still hovering next to him, "Then why is it still here?"

"Donny, I have no idea what's happening right now," Jordan said, "Why would I even protect you from a soccer ball?"

Melvin squinted at the stand, "He's out of your range, too."

"What?"

"**Champion **can only get about 4 feet away from you, right?" Melvin asked, pointing to the ground, "Donny's standing a bit over four feet away."

Jordan looked at the situation, very confused. "Melvin, punch me in the shoulder. Don't ask wh-"

"Ok." Melvin socked him in the shoulder, and Jordan yelped in pain. But **Champion **made no movements. His own stand, not defending him from an attack. Then, Jordan went to swing at Donny. The fist flew forward.

"**YATA!**"

Jordan was knocked down. Not only did his own stand not defend him, but it attacked him. "What the hell is happening?" Jordan asked.

"Cool," Donny laughed, "I guess I have two stands now."

"Well, this journey's been fun, Jordan," Melvin shrugged, "I guess your days of fighting with stands is over."

Jordan looked hopelessly at Donny, "You think so?"

"Hey, hey!" Melvin put his hand on Jordan's shoulder, "We're just kidding, don't get so down! Something you did gave Donny your stand, and there's of course a way to get it back."

"Yeah!" Donny said, "It's probably just an ability you haven't used until now! Besides, look!" He took a pocketknife out of his pants and quickly swiped the edge across his finger, wincing as he did so. Just like it would with Jordan, **Champion **moved its finger over, and a small streak of lighting began closing the small wound.

"Wow," Jordan said, "If I actually figure out how to undo and redo this, then it might be useful."

"See? Silver lining!" Melvin cheered.

**Stand user: Jordan Johannes**

**Stand: Champion**

**Power: C**

**Speed: A**

**Durability: C**

**Precision: A**

**Range: D**

**Potential: B**

**Ability: Honestly, who knows at this point?**

"Cole! Make sure you get my good side!"

Cole was an artist. And a good one at that. Pencil was his specialty, but he could do anything. He could write long, complicated and deep poems, he could paint beautiful and colorful mosaics, he was the best he knew at using charcoal, and he could sculpt almost anything with clay. He was a junior at Riverford High, and planned to become a comic book artist, or animator in his future. It didn't matter to him, as he knew that his talents were above almost anyone else, and he would be the next Da Vinci or Picasso, but he would settle for nothing less than Bob Ross.

His current girlfriend was a member of a rich family in Riverford, one of the original pioneers. Her name was Sasha, and she loved his artistic abilities. He took out his sketchbook, and began turning it to a new page. He set a sharpened HB pencil on the paper.

"Cole!" Sasha yelled at him, "Take my picture!" She was sitting against a rock wall, overlooking all of Riverford. It was a beautiful view.

Cole looked at the view through round glasses, "Yes. Picture." He put the sketchbook away, already having completed a sketch of her and the landscape in just those few seconds. He lifted his camera up from his chest, and took the picture. Perfect, as always.

"Let me see!" She cheered. Once she saw the photo, she continued on. Then, Cole got a call. Sasha turned to him, "Who is it?"

Cole looked at her, "Excuse me, babe. This'll take a moment." He turned, and opened up his phone. "Roman Stratus," He said, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Roman panted on the other end, "Listen, Cole, I'm in some deep shit."

"You're always in deep shit," Cole spat, "You're a delinquent."

_You piece of shit! _Roman thought, _I'm under the payroll of the mayor! I'm doing this for your safety! _"Listen, Cole, I messed up on something I needed to do, and now a….an enemy of mine knows that I'm going after him."

"You want me to go after another stand user?" Cole scoffed, flipping his long black hair out of his face, "Why would I do that for you?"

"Listen, once my sister finds out that I went after this guy, I'm done for. She can read memories. I'm staying at the houses of a few friends of mine."

"You're afraid of your sister?"

"Hey, it's not-!" Roman stopped himself, "Listen, Cole, this guy is an outsider. A stand user from who knows where."

"Hm," Cole thought for a moment, "I see. Stand users from outside of Riverford isn't something I want in my town. But why are you afraid of your target knowing you're going after him?"

"He has a lot of stand users that side with him," Roman said, "I can't fight multiple stand users at once."

"Ok," Cole smiled, "So you want me to deal with them."

"Yes," Roman answered, "Your stand deals with groups, right?"

"Yes," Cole said, "My stand is just as effective, whether there are two users, three users, four users, or five."

"Thank you," Roman sighed. He was relieved he found someone to do his job for him, "The target's name is Jordan Johannes. I don't know much about his stand, but I think he might have fought a considerable number of other users."

"Luckily, so have I," Cole closed the phone abruptly. He then walked away from his girlfriend, who was still waiting for him.

**Stand user: Melvin Morranis**

**Stand: SHINY TOYS**

**Power: A**

**Speed: C**

**Durability: B**

**Precision: C**

**Range: B**

**Potential: D**

**Ability: Copies the design of any toy Melvin has, and assumes its role and characteristics of what the toy represents. **

"**Champion**, return!" Nothing happened. It was still hovering around Donny.

"I'm gonna be honest, Jojo," Donny said, lying on his back in the grass, "I think we should just kinda drop this for now."

"You have _my _stand!" Jordan exclaimed.

"I know, I know," Donny sighed, "But like...we have no idea how to reverse this."

"This is the weirdest shit I've ever seen," Melvin said, "And that is saying quite a bit, seeing how I live in a town where about a tenth of the population has a ghost power."

Jordan dropped to a sit and began to mope, "This sucks, man. It's not that I want to fight anyone, but just having a stand up and leave is just...It's been a part of my life for too long."

"Hmm…" Donny rested his chin in his hand, "I don't know. We tried every phrase I could think of to get it to return. I thought of commanding it to return to you, and even that didn't work."

"Well, this is interesting," Melvin stood up from the grass, "But I need to piss."

"Thanks for telling us," Donny groaned.

Melvin scanned the environment, "Is there even a bathroom around here?"

"Just go in a tree," Donny said.

"This is a public park."

"So? It's a free country."

Melvin grumbled, but could not see a public bathroom on the horizon at all. He reluctantly hustled over to a tree, went behind it, and began doing his business. Jordan, however, still moped on the ground.

Donny felt very bad about this. Maybe it wasn't an ability Jordan had, but actually Donny's. Granted, that made no sense considering the abilities he had, but with the nature of stands, it is certainly possible. But still, he had no idea what to say to Jordan to cheer him up.

Eventually Jordan said, "I don't blame you, Donny."

"Thanks," Donny said, "But we really have no idea if it is my fault or not."

A new voice came from just a few feet away, "What an interesting predicament."

The two of them spun to see a tall, slender teenager with smooth skin, long black hair, and brown eyes behind thin circular glasses. He was resting against the tree, his chin placed gently on his wrist. In his other arm was a large sketchbook of nearly a hundred pages. He also donned a long coat, which they saw blowing faintly in the wind.

"God, I hate these kinds of people," Donny said, looking at the pretty boy. At that moment, they were pretty different. Donny hadn't shaved in a bit, so he had some noticeable stubble, he was wearing ripped jeans with a sleeveless shirt under a leather jacket, and his hair was certainly not styled under his backwards hat. He whispered to Jordan, "I think this guy is a poser, Jojo."

Jordan then looked at the tree he was leaning against. "Hey," He said, "Wasn't Melvin pissing there?" He paused for a moment before getting up and yelling, "Where's Melvin?!"

"Melvin? The short fat boy?" He looked around, pivoting his head from left to right, "Oh, here he is!" He looked down, and lifted up his sketchbook to show Melvin's face, looking over his shoulder with a confused look. Or at least, a drawing of him doing so.

Jordan gasped in surprise, but steeled himself. He yelled at the invader, "You bastard! What are you doing here?!"

He flipped his hair back and stood up. "My name is Cole Charrington," He began, "I've been sent here because I'm looking for you, Jordan Johannes," Sparks of a yellow aura began to form around him, "Because I, like many other stand users in Riverford, don't like outside stand users coming into our town," He pointed at Jordan.

"Then let me friend go! He's lived in Riverford all his life!"

Cole scoffed, "He may have, but the fact he's helping you mean he's my enemy," He lifted up the sketchbook to show Melvin once again, "Here's what I'm going to do with you, Jordan Johannes: I'm going to trap you in one of my pages, then your dirty friend here, and I'm going to throw all three of you into a fire, where you will die."

Jordan clenched his teeth. _Shit, _he thought, _this guy has really thought out what he's gonna do with me. I would usually be confident right now, but I currently don't have a stand! _

Cole began taking his steps forward, the yellow aura exploding around him. Jordan took several steps back. Donny saw that Jordan was clearly at a disadvantage, and instinctively tried to step in front of Jordan. But as he did so, Jordan firmly grabbed Donny's shoulder and tried to push him aside. Donny was in disbelief.

_Jojo, you idiot! _He thought, _you don't have a stand! What are you doing?_

Meanwhile, Jordan thought, _thanks for trying to help, Donny, but I'm not letting you tank this for me. Besides, I can't fight without my stand, and we don't know what his ability really is. He said he'll kill us by burning us as pages, so that means Melvin didn't instantly die when he got into the page. To figure out the extent of his stand, I'll sacrifice myself! _And with a burst of strength, Donny was pushed aside as Jordan ran forward towards Cole.

"**Take on me!**" Manifesting next to him was a wooden-looking stand. It was thickly armored, as its limbs seemed to have the vague shape of muscles carved into it. While most of the body was detailed in some way, the head looked like nothing more than a wooden egg. It opened with a hard strike across Jordan's chest, with Jordan having no way of defending himself. A few more strikes saw Jordan spitting blood and rolling on the grass.

"What's wrong, 'Jojo?'" He laughed, "I feel so lucky you're this much of an idiot to attack me while you can't even control your own stand." **Take on me **grabbed Jordan by the neck, "Now suffer for your idiocy!" Jordan was pulled toward Cole, and as he was brought closer to the page, his body dissolving into black dust. He looked at himself in disbelief as, without any pain, he was turned to dust. In a matter of seconds, that very expression was stuck on the page of Cole's sketchbook.

And all Donny could do was watch. Both of his allies were gone, Jonas was out of here, and this enemy was right in front of him. He felt rage stir inside of him.

"You sick fuck!" He screamed, "I bet you feel cool, having taken care of two people with no means to defend themselves!" He stood up and faced Cole, "**CHAMPION!**" Donny summoned Jordan's stand, and sent it forward. It clashed with Cole's stand, and it appeared that its armor was tough to break, though **Champion **was definitely faster than it.

Behind the clash, however, Cole was scribbling away on his sketchbook watching the battle. Eventually, **Take on me **retreated back and grabbed the sketchbook, throwing the page forward as **Champion **launched a powerful punch. The powerful punch was stopped by a new enemy. An exact copy of **Champion**, fully three-dimensional, but black and white, with rough shading and thick lines.

"This is the true ability of **Take on me**," Cole explained, "It can not only make real things into drawings, also vice versa."

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA-**"

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA-**"

The two stands seemed to be exactly the same by every metric, and neither the real thing nor the copy could gain the upper hand. **Take on me **moved around the two, and directly attacked Donny with several hits to the chest. He fell backwards out of Cole's range, but knew that something had to change.

_Curse my stand for being useless on grass! _He thought to himself. He saw that he was pretty much outmatched. Two stands were coming after him, but he had no idea what to do about it. As the enemy approached, **Champion **reappeared to defend Donny.

_Sorry dude, _Donny thought to Jordan's stand, _but I think we're gonna have to go into a tactical retreat. _

Donny looked at **Champion's **hand. The red glove was encased in a layer of blue static, bursting with stand power. Donny wondered if it was some sort of super-powered punch, as he had never seen it before. As Cole approached, the stand turned to punch, but not at the enemy. It was headed for Donny!

The fist hit Donny on the shoulder, where he saw that the E form of his stand, **Skate or Die**, had also come out in response to the impending attack on Donny. It was useless, of course, but the specks of blue power began to seep into it. The stand began to grow, surge in power, and leave Donny's body.

**Skate or Die **had become rank C, developing what seemed to be toned muscles on leather skin and thin, yet noticeable spikes. All of its stats were now rank C, meaning that he immediately began to use it against Cole.

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATATA-**"

"**RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-**"

The mock **Champion **and the very real **Take on Me **were pushed back, due mostly to Cole's stand lacking a lot of combat ability against an above decent stand. He saw Cole begin to hastily draw in his sketchbook, so he pressed his advantage. He ran forward, though his body was feeling haggard. Turns out, having two pretty good stands out at the same time is tiring.

**Skate or Die **sped past **Take on Me** and attempted to smack the sketchbook away from Cole. As it attempted, the mock **Champion **appeared in front of it, blocking the attack.

"Just a second!" Cole yelled with a maniacal smile, "Just a second allowed me to turn this battle in my favor!"

Yet another stand entered the battle. This time, a sketch version of **Skate or Die **rank C. As the copies battled it out in a stalemate, **Take on me **rushed forward and attacked Donny again, striking him multiple times and causing him to spit blood onto his shirt. He was sent back to the floor, both his stands recalled.

"What a confusing battle," Cole sighed, "I have three stands, two of which are copies, and you only have two." He shook his head, "I sure do hope that people watching can keep up with what's going on." He looked at the camera.

Donny had an idea. It was an idea he wasn't sure of, but he thought it might work. "If I can just hit you in your smug ass face," He said, "Just once, really fucking hard," **Champion **appeared with another fistfull of sparkling stand power, "Then I can beat you."

Before Cole could say something snarky, **Champion **punched **Skate or Die **with the energy field once again. The stand morphed again into something larger. It became distinctly muscular, it had thick metallic armor, and the spikes on its body were huge and hooked. **Champion's **power was reduced, but Donny had done it.

"This is **Skate or Die**, rank A," Donny explained, "For a brief few seconds, all of it stats are at the very peak of what stands can be. Right now, it is the mot powerful stand on the planet." Cole recalled all of his stands to be close to him. Donny said, "You can try to defend, but you have no chance." There was only a split second before the onslaught.

"**RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RRRRRAAD!**"

The two sketch stands were torn apart, and much of **Take on me **was crushed under the sheer weight of the stand. Cole found himself flying through the air, gushing blood from several deep wounds. He hadn't even fully processed what happened. He landed hard against the concrete just outside of the arts center. Luckly, not near any of the large glass windows where people would see him and freak out.

"Good…" Cole gasped, "No one saw me…" He let the sketchbook fall beside him, and put his hand across a blank page, "That's good...that's good…" His body began to break apart into graphite dust and attach itself to the page. When he fully integrated himself into the sketchbook, **Take on me **remained outside to carry it.

Donny just barely saw all of this go down. He tried running to Cole, but he was extremely tired. **Champion **barely had any stand power left, and **Skate or Die **was now rank E after using all of its energy. He thought about staying back, maybe not engaging.

Then he saw **Take on me **make it into the art's center.

_Damn it, _Donny thought, _there's a whole gallery in there! Who knows what he'll be able to do with dozens of paintings!_


	12. Take on Me, Part Two

**Stand User: Cole**

**Stand name: Take on Me**

**Power: B**

**Speed: C**

**Durability: C**

**Precision: A**

**Range: D**

**Potential: A**

**Stand ability: Can make drawings into real objects or beings, and can turn real things into drawings. Works on any piece of visual art. **

Donny entered the arts center, seeing a wide central room with paintings hung on both sides of the wall. He felt out of place. He was a teenager in a leather jacket surrounded by older adults in fancy clothes. As he was running through the arts center, he bumped into an older man.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, "watch it kid!"

"Shut up!" Donny pushed him out of the way. The older man scowled at Donny, offended.

"I said, watch it-" As he went to grab Donny, **Champion **left his body and smacked the hand away.

The reason Donny was running so carelessly was because **Take on Me **was jumping from painting to painting. Apparently, the stand itself had the ability to enter anything anyone draws. **Take on Me **was also carrying the sketchbook, which Cole himself began so that **Take on Me **could bring him between the paintings.

"_Face it, Donny! You're shit outta luck! You're in my element now!" _**Take on Me **left an abstract panting and slid into a set of doors, breaking the lock with a tug of the handle. Donny ran through to find he was in the gallery. Only a few feet separated one painting from another. Cole could spring from one panting to another, attacking Donny from behind and pull him in.

But he felt confident. **Champion **was fast enough to keep him safe, he thought. He entered the gallery. He closed the door behind him. The only sound was the light whirring of the air conditioner.

"So, where are you?" Donny called out. He watched each painting he passed by, making sure that he was ready. He didn't look like it, though. His hands were in his pockets, he was sauntering nonchalantly, he leaned his head back. He was hoping that his cool attire would lead Cole to attack.

"_I'm obviously somewhere in here," _Cole's voice sounded out, "_You just need to find me. Shouldn't be that hard, right?" _

He began to walk down a path between two showcases, paintings on both sides of him. He knew that Cole would try to attack here. "Yeah, I just need to follow the sound of your whiny voice," Donny mocked.

Cole laughed in response, "_You know, Donny, I'm surprised you got a stand at all. Do you even have the resolve to do anything?" _

"Pssh," Donny scoffed, "What, you insulting my character now?" Donny spun around behind him, hoping to catch Cole. He didn't, but he continued, "You think that's gonna make me angry or something?"

"_I suppose you're right," _Cole replied, "_Nothing I say will insult you, and you can't insult me. We are opposites of each other, after all."_

"What?"

"_I, a sophisticated artist with a girlfriend, and you, a sad stoner with no girlfriend."_

"Well, you especially aren't gonna insult me with that," Donny laughed, "Think of something a little more deep than what my friends tell me every day." He got frustrated at the fact nothing was really happening, "Come on you pansy, come out and attack me already."

"_How about this, Donny?"_

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, stepping out of one of the paintings as if climbing through a window, Cole stepped out onto the floor a few feet away from Donny. He held eye contact, then spread out his arms. "One free shot," He said, "I don't even have my stand out yet. Try as best as you can to beat me."

_What an idiot! _Donny thought, _If this guy is trying to show off the speed of his stand, there's no way he's faster than __**Champion! **_So, the wrestler stand sprang outward in a gust of wind, and slammed Cole across the face with no resistance. Donny smiled at his accomplishments, but became confused when he saw that Cole began to dissolve into black dust. His body was breaking apart. Almost as if he was, himself, one of the sketche-

"Shit."

At that moment, he felt his back split open. From behind him, **Take on Me **had plunged its hand deep into Donny in a free punch. He heard Cole's voice, "_I can make any drawing I want come to life, whether or not its colored. And I'm a very convincing artist, Donny."_

When Donny went to counterattack, his enemy was gone. Jumping from painting to painting around him in a blur, **Take on Me **managed to break Donny's shin before disappearing again. **Champion **tried to punch it, but only ended up tearing a hole in an expensive painting. The next attack came with a kick across Donny's face, sending him flying and sprawled up against the wall. Already, **Take on Me **put a choke hold on him from behind.

"_Donny," _Cole said, "_It's time."_

Then Donny looked at his fingers, and saw that he was beginning to turn into graphite dust. He was caught by Cole, but he had one last trick. Cole called to him, "_Your time is up, Donny!" _

**Donny Falcon might be your stereotypical skater bro, but he didn't become that way out of a genuine interest in skater culture. His parents are inheritors of major wealth, having found gold from the pioneering days of Riverford. Despite living near a town with such a rich history of stand users, nobody before Donny gained a stand. **

**This is because the Falcon family are the most classist people you'll ever meet. Donny's house is in the richest neighborhood in Riverford, far away from any of the places he'd make his friends. He could go to a good local private school, go to a good college, and be set for life off of the patronage of his parents. Instead he rejects "high culture," he caused enough trouble to get kicked out of the private school in his first week, and he refuses to make friends in his local neighborhood.**

**Donny doesn't tell anyone about why he rejects his parent's wealth. When asked he usually says, "that life doesn't suit me." The truth is, Donny hates the lifestyle. Not being rich in particular, but being wealthy without work. And even if you have earned your wealth from skill, the pretentiousness and ego of many wealthy people he's met disgusts him. If he becomes rich, he promised himself he would do so from his own skill, and that he would never flaunt it like the posers he hated so much. **

With a spark from **Champion's **fingers, the painting lit aflame. Cole looked at it, and then saw that **Champion **was dragging a spark all around him, trapping the stand in a circle of fire from within the painting.

"_Wha-what are you doing, Donny?"_

"You said that if you burn your stupid sketchbook, my friends will die," Donny growled, "So if you're caught in a flaming painting, you'll die too, right?"

**Take on Me **pushed Donny away before lunging at him from the painting. But this time, Donny was ready. **Champion **socked the enemy stand, and pushed it up against the crumbling painting.

Cole formed into being behind his stand, staring at Donny. The fire alarm began to go off. Donny mocked Cole, "have you come out to get a breath of fresh air before I beat the shit out of you?"

"**YATA-TA!**" **Take on Me **was hit across the head, and the next hit from **Champion **broke Cole's fingers, which he was using to try to quickly make another sketch to throw at Donny. Cole screamed in pain, and narrowly avoided falling into the sprawling flames behind him. The other paintings began to light on fire, creating a wall of fire in front of Donny.

And, as Cole's hand broke, he dropped the sketchbook. Donny slid it back towards him. Simply by being out of **Take on Me**'s range, his friends began to manifest before him. Graphite dust began flowing out of the pages, and slowly forming back into its human shape and color.

"You fucking prick!" Cole shouted, holding his broken hand by the wrist, "Do you know what this kind of injury will do to me?!" **Take on Me **clenched its fists.

"Don't try it!" Donny warned, "**Champion **is faster and more precise than your stand. It can block any attack you throw at me."

Melvin and Jordan were halfway formed, but that isn't enough. The truth was, he used up a lot of his stand power. **Champion **was a lot slower than it was earlier. He wasn't sure if **Take on Me **used energy whenever it used its ability.

**Take on Me **launched a barrage of punches, and **Champion **rushed to block as many of them as possible, but its fatigued state simply didn't allow it. **Take on Me**, a normally slower and weaker stand, punched through Donny's defenses. Cole pulled back the sketchbook, Jordan and Melvin turning back into clouds of dust before slipping between the pages once again. Then, Cole ripped out a single page, and, in a skilled move of his hand, transformed it into a paper airplane.

"Sorry, Donny, but I'm not going to get blamed for setting an art gallery on fire. Good-bye!" He, his stand, and the sketchbook, turned into graphite dust that slipped into the fold of the paper airplane as Cole tossed it forward. The airplane bent the corner, as it was clear that Cole was experienced in the piloting of folded paper. Donny went to run after him, only to remember that his shin was shattered, and promptly ate shit on the ground.

"God damn it!" He pounded the floor. He looked at **Champion**, who was poking the wound on his back with little sparks of energy to get it to heal. "God damn it!" Donny shouted, "Heal the leg you idiot! The leg!" The muscular beast just kept poking at his back, "God damn it, what's the point of having you if you don't listen to me?!"

Frustrated, Donny began limping across the hallway, using the paintings on the walls as a secondary balance measure. While limping, Donny wondered why Cole didn't just throw Jordan and Melvin into the fire right behind him.

As Donny went around the corner, he saw that a door labelled "staff only" was just closing. Donny followed Cole's trail, limping as fast as he could towards the door, pusing past, and dreading the fact that immediately behind the doors were stairs. He did his best to struggle up the steps, his dangling leg kicking against them and sending sharp bolts of pain through Donny each time.

He burst through the door at the top, and saw that it was opening at a lounging area just outside some offices. A few feet past that was a beautiful glass and metal bridge overlooking the main hall. Because it's an art center.

Cole looked at the main hall, leaning on the handrails waiting for Donny. Donny limped forward until the reached the bridge, and saw everyone was gone due to the fire alarm.

"The fire department will be here soon," Cole said. Blood from his hand dripped onto the glass. **Take on Me **held up the sketchbook. Cole held up a lighter.

"Cut the shit," Donny said. He stumbled against the handrails, "If you wanted to burn the pages, you would have done it earlier. Like when there was a bunch of fire right behind you."

"In that moment, I was in between a rock and a hard place," Cole said, "But now, the odds are perfectly in my favor." He flicked the lighter. The corner of his sketchbook began to burn, letting off just a bit of smoke.

Donny began stumbling forward, **Champion **prepared to fight. The book began to burn more and more, but as Donny was just about to get in range, Cole threw the sketchbook aside, off of the bridge. Bits of burning paper were sent into the air.

"Now, die, Donny-"

Cole prepared to see Donny lunge forward, but instead, Donny lifted himself upward, and swung himself over the bridge. He was going into a nosedive toward the sketchbook, using **Champion **to reach out and grab it.

Cole assumed victory. He smiled to himself, thinking that Donny was idiotic using his stand to grab the sketchbook when they were 20 feet above the ground floor. Donny, however, thanked Cole for this opportunity.

_Up until this moment, _Donny thought, _I had relied on Jordan's stand to do anything. Even to use my own stand. But lucky for me, this guy doesn't know how my stand works at all! _

A leathered, spiky hand grabbed onto the railing next to Cole. He jumped back, unsure what to think. Surrounded by a red aura, Donny hovered midair. He called out to Cole, "My stand, **Skate or Die**, becomes more powerful the more dangerous stunts I do."

"**RAD!**" Donny launched upward, landing right back onto the bridge in front of Cole, kneeling with his one good leg.

"I'd say jumping off a bridge to certain death to catch a book is a pretty dangerous stunt, wouldn't you think?" Donny lifted up the book, showing the flames gone and clouds of graphite flowing out of it.

"Ok, ok!" Cole began to back off, "I'll leave! I'll leave you alone!"

"I _would _take that," Donny said, "but you gotta be de-cubed. Sorry."

"'De-cubed?'" Cole squinted, letting down a lot his guard, "What in the world does that fucking me-"

"**RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD-RAD!**"

Under the immense barrage of **Skate or Die Rank A**, Cole's stand broke apart. He was launched across the bridge, landing in a classroom on the complete other side of the building. The cubes in his head were suspended in air where he was hit. And, in a second, **Skate or Die **returned to the tiny stand it was before.

**Riverford trivia: The Riverford Arts Center was known for a wide art gallery, before there was a strange fire in its gallery. Now, it focuses on plays and drama. **

Jordan bumped the side of his head to get the rest of the graphite out of his ear. Melvin used his medics to start to heal Donny's leg under a tree in the park. In the distance, the firefighters carried Cole out in a stretcher.

"So how was it?" Melvin asked, "Fighting with two stands?"

"Well one of my stands is useless half the time," Donny shrugged, "So normal, I guess."

Jordan walked over to Donny, and crouched beside him. He looked at Donny for a long time in silence, then put a hand on Donny's shoulder. It was strange. Melvin and Donny were silent, ready for him to pour his heart out. "Fuck you, Donny," He said.

Donny blinked, "Well, fuck you too, Jojo."

Then, Jordan smiled. He got up, and yelled, "Quick, Melvin, kick my shi-" Already, Melvin was throwing a kick at Jordan, aiming right for the knee.

"**YATA!**" Melvin was knocked five feet away, flat on his ass. Jordan fist bumped **Champion **hovering behind him.

Donny started clapping, "You got your stand back!" Jordan began punching the air in celebration. Donny said, "Hey, Melvin, clap. Melvin. Melvin…..hey, are you awake?"

"Oh shit, I think I knocked him out."


	13. Homecoming, Part One

(I thought quarantine would allow me to write more of this, but all it brought was procrastination. I'm getting dangerously close to having been writing this for a year, and I don't want to say I've been writing a jojo fanfic for a year. That would be cringe. Instead, I am going to try to finish this story to the best of my ability in the next few months.)

(A formal apology to the reviewer that asked for more frequent updates.)

Jordan inhaled deeply, and crouched to face his mirror. He stared into his own blue eyes, his gaze shaking with fear. He lifted up his finger, and brought the film closer to his eye. It came ever closer, and his vision was blocked. He only saw his own finger reaching for his eye. He threw the contact aside.

"Fuck that," He said. He put his glasses on. He moved onto finalizing everything: combing the last strands of his hair down, making sure his suit looked in place, and straightening the tie. It was soon he got a call from Melvin.

He charged out of his bathroom, immediately being grappled by his mother, Rose. She ignored his protests of messing up his combed hair as she cried, "I can't believe you managed to get a date freshman year!"

Then he stumbled out onto the yard, where he ran into the backseat of a car where he met a similarly dressed up Donny Falcon and Melvin Moranis.

"Lookin' good, Jojo!" Donny elbowed him, "Glad you decided to ride with us to the dance. That way I could ruin your look before you meet your girlfriend!" He feigned another attack against his hair before laughing at him. Jordan was taking time to soak up seeing Donny without his sunglasses.

Melvin was in a penguin suit with a bow tie, keeping his glasses like Jordan. He asked the two of them, "you think I look better with or without the glasses?"

"With," Jordan said, "I'm just not used to looking at you without them."

"Yeah, plus they hide your abnormally small eyes," Donny said.

Then Jonas leaned back, snapping to get their attention, "ok, settle down boys," He said, "Look at me now. You kids know the rules?"

"Well technically, the rule was not to go to the dance at all," Donny pointed out one last time before being shut up by his friends.

"If a stand user shows up, call me immediately," He began, "Don't ever draw out your stand, and if you see a stand user and you don't know if they've been cubed or not, then leave."

"The rest of the stand users still don't go to dances," Melvin said, "So we should be fine."

"Yeah yeah," Jonas took the wheel, "Just remember to tell me when something happens."

Upon arriving at the school, the three boys took a deep breath and marched in unison to their school's multipurpose room. Melvin's date, Goth, was the first to be seen. She was, of course, in a dark black dress.

"Can't we go somewhere cool?" She asked.

"I slipped the DJ a fiver to get him to play any song from a random punk band, but that's all that's in my control."

When the two were walking, Jordan looked at Donny. Donny immediately said, "don't worry, I know cool kids hanging out in the back," He grabbed Jordan by the shoulder, "I just want you to know, Jojo. When I first attacked you in a skate park, I never thought I would be seeing you here. Outside a multipurpose room, next to a long line, waiting to get in a room full of crowded people-"

"-yeah, you're kind of reminding me why I was a bit nervous to do this."

"Jojo," Donny interrupted, "_you _convinced _me _to go to a _dance. _Never forget that." He fist bumped Jordan, then slinked off.

And Jordan was there alone. He looked at the cars pulling up, each one making his heart pound more and more with anticipation. And then that _one _car pulled up. Out came May, in a blue dress with her hair done up in a beautiful ponytail. She saw him, and they both began walking up to each other.

They stood in front of each other, saying nothing for a good ten seconds. Jordan thought to himself, _tell her she looks beautiful, you idiot! _Then May said, "you look great!"

"Shit," Jordan said.

May recoiled, "what is something wrong?"

Jordan panicked, "oh, no, no! I just-I wanted to tell you that you were beautiful first. Which you are. Also, thank you."

She smiled at him, "You also look like you're about to piss yourself." Jordan had nothing to say to that.

They then waited in line for 15 minutes to get inside. The entire line also moved under the small bits of cover provided by the edges of the roof above classroom buildings as it began to rain. Once they finally got inside, they went in the photo booth and took pictures, which cost five dollars.

The dance floor in general was chaotic. For one, Jordan could hear a distant chance of "MELVIN! MELVIN! MELVIN!" From what seemed to be a dance circle. Donny was discussing with Lars Murphy over whether or not the drinks were already spiked. Cole had a rose picked for his date, and she was currently in tears for how beautiful it was.

To summarize about an hour of homecoming action, Jordan danced with his date awkwardly for about 15 minutes before getting into deep conversation on the bleachers with her, and occasionally talking to the other kids he met in the year so far. At one point, someone pointed out how weird it was that it was only the start of December despite it feeling a lot longer than that. Then Jordan had to go to the bathroom, and excused himself.

He had to go out of his way to avoid a bathroom with a huge amount of drugs in it (on the suggestion of May) and went into a relatively clean, empty bathroom around the middle of campus (The MP, and the dance, is at the edge of the campus).

He looked in the mirror. Still looking sharp. He was about to go to the urinal when he heard the door open. He saw a pretty tall kid, with buzz cut hair and a sports jacket on. He looked familiar, but Jordan couldn't put his finger on it.

"Uhh, hi," He said.

"Sorry," Jordan stopped staring, "Just didn't expect anyone else to be in here." He walked over to the urinal.

Then he stopped. He looked back over to the jock, who froze. Jordan looked in his eyes. They were green. Looking at the big, muscular build and stocky face, he knew who it was. The jock looked like he figured it out.

"What's up, freshman?" Roman asked.

**Stand User: Roman Stratus**

**Stand name: Cha Cha Slide**

**Power: C**

**Speed: C**

**Durability: B **

**Precision: B**

**Range: D**

**Potential: A**

**Stand ability: He can move anything anywhere as long as he can focus on it and it's within about 10 feet of him. **

Roman smiled. He thought that Jordan and his crew would be searching for _him_. After all, they had been for a few weeks since the fight with Jonas. Knowing no stand users go to places where there are huge, tight groups, and anyone could be there, he thought it was safe for him to have fun with some girls after crashing in his friend's houses for the past few weeks.

Then Jordan's team showed up, and he thought he was done for. But once they split up and got with their dates, Roman knew that fate was on his side! Clearly, it had aligned in such a perfect way so that he could find Jordan again, and finally put an end to the invading outsider! He got the stand arrow from his car, and now he was ready to end Jordan Johannes!

And so, he was staring him down, a few feet away from each other in an empty school bathroom, far away from where everyone is. He said with a smirk, "Listen here, you lit-"

"**YATA!**" Jordan's stand exploded forward, launching an attack right at him. **Cha Cha Slide **was able to block the first attack, but he wasn't able to block the barrage.

"**YATATATATATATA!**"

It was so powerful that the sink behind Roman shattered into five different pieces. But to Jordan, Roman was gone. Roman crept up from behind him, having used his stand ability, and thought to himself, _is this really that same punk I saw that first day at school? He's so-_

Jordan turned his head around, staring him down from the edge of his sight. **Champion**'s read boot stretched around, and launched another barrage of "**YATATATATA!**" At Roman. He was thrown back, not given enough time to focus and teleport out of its path.

He teleported on top of a toilet in the nearest stall before being attacked again. He tried to make his panting quiet. He knew it only bought him seconds, but he needed time to think.

_That's a really fucking fast stand, _he thought, _how am I supposed-_

A red hand punched a hole through the stall, flying past Roman's face. Another hand ripped the stall door off the hinges and went for another attack against Roman. He teleported to the next stall.

"**YATA! TA! TA! TA! TA!**"

**Champion **beat down each of the doors with wild attacks, hoping to force out Roman from a hiding spot. He teleported back to the middle of the bathroom. The arrow appeared in his hand. He lunged at Jordan, but he was ready. Jordan remembered Jonas saying that once you have a stand, the Arrow is basically just a knife. Another attack came toward Roman, but his stand finally fully appeared.

It was somewhat robotic, but only in its general aesthetic. Silver armor covered a green mass of ooze that was its interior, and you could see it through the joints and bends it had. It had no legs, and just seemed to be a floating body with a tall, thin head and long, stringy arms.

There was a large, intimidating jock with a stand that was stringy and built for evasion, compared to a short, thin dork with a powerful, muscular wrestler as his stand. Roman saw this, and it frustrated him. He hated his own stand, but it was unlikely to change.

**Cha Cha Slide **grabbed **Champion's **arm, and Roman tried to plunge the arrowhead into Jordan. Instead, Jordan ran forward and drove his knee into roman's stomach, knocking him back. Then, **Champion **broke free and sent Roman's stand flying.

Jordan reached for his phone, and went to speed-dial Jonas. As soon as he flipped it open, it teleported into Roman's hands. He snapped it in half. He looked tired, his hair already unkempt and his face bleeding. He was panting, but so was Jordan.

"Ok, freshman," Roman panted, "You got...tough."

"SHUT UP!" Jordan screamed, "Why won't you fucks just leave me alone?!"

"**YATATATATATATA!**" More of the bathroom was destroyed as Roman attempted to dodge the attacks. Mirrors shattered and sinks shattered as Roman took an occasional sock from **Champion**.

"I thought a girl that liked me was trying to kill me!" Jordan screamed, "I had to rely on a friend to keep me from being burned alive!"

**Cha Cha Slide **managed to block a few attacks, and chop at **Champion **a few times, though Roman was once again knocked through the stalls of a toilet. The lights in the room flickered wildly.

"You followed me for days! And I didn't even know!" He grabbed at his hair, "How was I _supposed _to know?! You don't just naturally look for that shit!"

Roman was now crawling on the ground, teleporting away from Jordan's wrath as it tore apart the tiles beneath it.

"I have friends! I have a girlfriend! I'm at homecoming! Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone you PSYCHOPATH?!"

He looked down at his hands. His knuckles were dripping blood onto the only part of the bathroom still intact. He looked around at what he had done, and felt panic set in.

Roman, bloodied and battered, hoisted himself on the wall. He spit blood into the only toilet not spilled out. "Ok, freshman," He gasped, "You had your tantrum. I can see…" He coughed "that the stand users of Riverford have not been kind to you."

Jordan glared at the jock.

"But if that's the case, then why don't you just leave?" Roman asked.

"Tell my mom I've been chased by people with ghost powers?" He looked at his hands, and saw that **Champion **was already healing them. He said to Roman, "This isn't you, Roman."

He blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"This isn't you. You're being fucking mind controlled, man."

Roman laughed.

"I'm serious," Jordan stammered, "Every time we beat up a stand user, this black cube thing comes out of their head, and then they don't want to fight us anymore. And we know what it's coming from. It's from a stand called-"

"**99 Problems**."

Jordan stopped. He looked at Roman, who was staring lazily into the abyss with glazed eyes. Jordan didn't understand. How he was thinking about the whole situation differently.

"You can beat the living shit out of me," Roman said, "And the cubes will leave my brain," He managed to lift himself onto his feet, "But it won't change what I do." He put a finger to his ear, "They'll just go right back in."

Jordan shook his head, "You don't know that."

"Yes I do," Roman growled. He began walking toward Jordan. His green aura was sparking around him, large blots of purple tainting it.

Jordan's own aura began appearing. He panted, "Ok. Then I'm going to beat the shit out of you indefinitely," **CHAMPION **appeared beside him, "Until you tell me the user of **99 Problems**. And I'll beat he shit out of him, too!"

**CHAMPION **charged forward, throwing a punch at Roman. **Cha Cha Slide **blocked it perfectly. Another attack was launched, and another blocked. Then several swings were thrown at Jordan and his stand, and each one landed. Jordan was thrown back into the wall.

"You really used up a lot of stand power during that fight," Roman said.

Jordan bolted right, and opened the door to get out of there. In a second, he was moved 15 feet back, and Roman smashed his head into the sink. His glasses shattered into the bowl.

"Give up, freshman," Roman pulled the Arrow from his belt, hoisting it up in preparation to stab Jordan in the back. Before he could, Jordan grabbed the pieces of glass in his hand, and **Champion **charged them with a blue energy. When he opened it up, they exploded from his hand like a shotgun, landing in Roman's face before he was able to stab Jordan.

Jordan dodged out of the way. Roman grabbed his face, now bloodied as tiny pieces of glass were lodged deep in his face. **Champion **exploded outward, punching him across his injured face. **Cha Cha Slide**, similarly injured, wasn't able to see Jordan's attacks. So, he used up any energy he had left for one last barrage.

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATA!**"

The last hit knocked the cubes out of Roman's head. He stood up for a few moments, blinking rapidly, before falling on his back. Jordan grabbed his own chest, feeling his rapidly beating heart. He didn't even think to grab the Arrow as he hastily stumbled out of the bathroom.

When he got through the door, the school was still empty. It seemed nobody had heard what was happening. He heard the music in the distance. He could barely see. When he began to run, his legs immediately burned from the amount of energy he just burned fighting Roman. So he limped forward, grabbing the wall to help him get back to the MP.

And while he walked along, the cubes scattered across the broken bathroom floor slowly moved themselves back into Roman's ear.

**Stand user: Jordan Johannes**

**Stand name: Champion**

**Power: C**

**Speed: A**

**Durability: C**

**Precision: A**

**Range: D**

**Potential: B**

**Ability: So far, Jordan has discovered that his stand can transfer energy into objects, temporarily (or indefinitely) become someone else's stand when he compliments them, and slowly heal his injuries. **


	14. Homecoming, Part Two

The Brannigan mansion is a large house on the top of a grand hill that overlooks the whole town. Roman looked over it as he sipped whiskey from a shot glass. He thought that hiding from the invader was lucky, since he was able to hang out in a mansion for a bit.

Then Mayor Brannigan walked up and stole the drink from him, spilling it off the balcony.

"Hey, what the hell?" Roman cried.

"You're underage, and I'm a respectable man," The mayor pointed at him accusingly, "You may be able to drink with your friends, but not here. This is a place of class." The mayor stormed off, leaving Roman frustrated. He marched after him.

"Hey, I'm sorry," He growled, "I won't do it again, but come on, I've been kind of in a tough spot."

"_You're _in a tough spot?" The mayor scoffed, "I've had to pull strings to keep your grades up for a month, despite you not being in school. All because you can't kill a stupid kid." He threw his arms up in frustration, "In fact, you've allowed _two _outside stand users to get in this town.

"Two isn't that much!" Roman squeaked, "I mean, it was gonna happen no matter what, right? Isn't that what you said, something to do with, uhh.." he snapped his fingers, "Destiny?"

"Fate," Corrected the mayor, "Fate brings stand users together. A stand user doesn't go his whole life without meeting another stand user, no matter where he lives or how he lives. Fate will bring them together."

"Yeah," Roman said, "So wouldn't it happen anyway?"

The mayor paused, gritting his teeth, "You are already under the effects of **99 Problems**. If these questions really mattered to you, you wouldn't be asking them."

Whenever the mayor brings up **99 Problems**, it reminds Roman that he lost his free will a while ago. Not that it's a problem. After all, as that one teacher in his english class said during that one philosophy lesson, free will might not exist at all. He just knows why he doesn't have free will, unlike most people. Still, reminding him is kind of a bummer.

"Outside stand users are not under the influence of **99 Problems**. Which means they can get rid of its influence in native stand users. And if that happens, then **99 Problems **might lose all influence in the town." The mayor stared at Roman, "That is reason enough for you to worry about _any _number of outside stand users. Even if it is really just two of them."

Roman stood in silence, remembering that his purpose for living now was to protect **99 Problems**. Before the mayor left, he said, "Remember to show up for practice. My son needs his center."

Roman's eyes opened. He wiped the blood away. As he sat himself up, he remembered his purpose here. He looked to the floor next to him, and grabbed the arrow. He held it. Like before, it was heavy.

"Any number of outside stand users," He said to himself, "Even if it is _just two of them_."

Jordan was finally able to walk normally. He began to march quickly toward the MP. He was going to grab his friend's phone, call Jonas, and then..he didn't really plan for long after that. As he went forwards, he saw a blurry figure approach him. The shape wasn't that of Roman, so he wasn't worried, but he couldn't make out who.

"Jordan?" May walked forward, getting into his line of sight, "What-what happened to you?" She caught him by the shoulders, and looked at him. Mostly, his clothes were ripped, but his body was fine due to **Champion **healing him.

Jordan took her hands and stared at her for a moment.

"I...fell...down?"

She just looked at him and began shaking her head, "No, you didn't. Jordan, how the hell did you get this wrecked just going to the bathroom?"

"Because Roman Stratus attacked me," Jordan said. He figured that was close to the truth. Before she could ask anything else, he asked, "Do you have a phone on you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need to call someone. Now."

She gave it to him without questions. He immediately dialed Jonas, and looked behind him. Roman wasn't there. He heard Jonas pick up, and Jordan opened his mouth to speak.

The phone was gone.

May didn't understand what happened. "Did you drop it?" As she looked down to see if it dropped, he looked up. They were under a small bit of roof that was protecting them from rain. Standing right on the edge of that was the huge, stocky figure that was Roman.

Jordan moved his eyes to look at May, but she was already gone. He looked back up, and so was Roman. The worst part about his ability was that it was silent.

"Hey-" He heard May to his left. In between two other buildings, about 20 feet away, May was staring at Jordan, with Roman looming behind her. "How did-what happened?"

"Don't!" Jordan shouted.

May's scream was muffled by Roman's hand pulling her in close. He didn't say anything. He just pulled out the Arrow, and stood there. Nobody from the MP could see him, since nobody was outside due to the rain. If people could see him through the open doors, he was hidden behind the building.

Jordan went to charge forward, but stopped when Roman reeled back the Arrow. Roman said, "I expect you to know what the deal is?" **Cha Cha Slide **held her in place and wrapped around her with its arms, but it was Roman's hand on her mouth. She didn't understand why she couldn't move. Despite that, she was struggling violently against Roman.

Jordan stood very still and silent, planning his next move. Roman tried to bait him, "Do you think she can survive, freshman? Do you think she has the resolve to survive getting stabbed in the throat?"

Jordan took a deep breath. From afar, he looked May in the eyes. He said, as clear as he could, "May...with everything that's happened in this town, you have been the only person really keeping me grounded in reality. I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

Roman and May looked at him questioningly.

"Wow," Roman chuckled, "I guess that's you giving u-"

"**TA!**"

Roman fell backward, both him and his stand recoiling and stumbling from the sudden blow to his face. He just barely managed to stand up. He screamed, "What the hell?" And looked at May. She was surrounded by a static, pulsating blue aura. And guarding her was **CHAMPION**. As he looked at her, he thought to himself, _can that motherfucker give other people his stand?_

He threw several attacks at **CHAMPION**, but instead of being drained of energy, the stand was rejuvenated. Sure, Jordan was tired, but May wasn't. The attacks were at full strength and speed, slamming into **Cha Cha Slide**, but before he could be blown away, he was pulled back toward May. She backed up, but Roman still stumbled forward, staying in **CHAMPION**'s most effective range.

"**YATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!**"

Everything that **CHAMPION **had was thrown into Roman, the full weight of the stand's power slamming through his weak stand and right into his even weaker human body. The hits were so fast that his body saw them all as one continuous blast slamming into him. And then, with one final hit, he was blasted through the air, over the concrete, and onto the grassy field just outside of the main school complex.

May stared at Roman as he rocketed through the air and slid across the grass. She looked at Jordan, who was slowly walking towards her. They just stared at each other, for a very long and awkward moment.

"I can explain everything," He said.

"Can you?" She snapped.

Jordan felt shame spread through his body. His hands tensed, and he stood in silence at his own shame. He inhaled to say _something_, but he saw something the distance: Roman's body twitch, and a purple light swirling through his head.

"Why did that happen, Jordan?!" She screamed, "Did he just-" She covered her mouth, "Did he try to stab me? Why couldn't I-" She was terrified, and the emotions were coming out. And the purple light around Roman's head fully returned.

"May," Jordan steeled himself, "I _can _explain everything, if you want me to. But not right now."

"Why not?!" She screamed.

"Because Roman Stratus is trying to kill me, and he's about to get back up," Jordan yelled, "And I need my stand back!"

"Your _what?_"

"My-" _She doesn't know what that is. _He really didn't want to insult May right now, so he thought to his own stand, _be useful you stupid fucking ghost! _

And then **Champion **returned to him, which made him even more angry than he already was. But he still needed to focus, as Roman began to get up from his prone position. May looked back and realized the situation. She asked, "Are you….can you…"

"If you want to make sure I can handle it," Jordan said, "Then you need to find Melvin and Donny and get them over here. And Goth, too."

May stammered, but ultimately didn't say anything. Her eyes were staring questioningly at him, and her mouth was open trying to say words, but not knowing which to say. Eventually, she just nodded and ran off.

Jordan walked toward Roman's body. He was sitting up, staring at Jordan with a glowing purple film over his green eyes. He was wet and covered in mud. He yelled to Jordan, "Wanna go again, freshman?" He sprung up, summoning his stand.

Then, with one kick from **Champion**, he was knocked down again. The glow from **Champion**'s aura electrified the raindrops around it. As Roman struggled to bring himself up again, Jordan pleaded, "Be logical, Roman! Just stop trying!"

Roman, instead of listening, sent **Cha Cha Slide **out for another attack, only to be slammed across the head and cause Roman to begin coughing up a few of his teeth into the mud. Even with that, Roman took the pain and brought himself to his feet. Jordan stood with his clenched fists. Roman stumbled forward again, the Arrow in his fist. As he swung it down to try and stab Jordan, he was pummeled three times by **Champion**.

"Why?!" Jordan cried, "Why are you doing this?!"

"SHUT UP!" Roman held his damaged torso and screamed through his bloodied mouth, "You don't understand! _This _is my purpose!" He heaved forward again, but was kicked directly in the stomach. He was sent backwards, but still screamed, "I won't stop, freshman! This is _life_ and _death_ for _me_ and _you_!" Roman, using what seemed to be all of his strength, charged forward towards Jordan with all of his energy-

_crack! _

The punch landed against Roman's cheek. His head was bent backwards, and his body frozen. There was no sound but the rain. And then, the Arrow dropping into the wet grass. Roman stared off into the distance, with blank eyes. Jordan wasn't sure what to make of it. Then he saw **Cha Cha Slide**, the frail little stand as it fell from Roman's body, cracking and breaking apart. The aura was no more. Roman's body fell onto its side, a loud _slap _echoing in Jordan's mind as he hit the ground. The cubes did not sprinkle out of his ear like he expected.

Jordan doesn't remember how long he stared at the remains of Roman on the ground. But he knows that as the reality set in, he felt more and more constrained. What was he supposed to do? Roman didn't have a choice in what he was doing. He was under the control of something else. It wasn't him. But Jordan failed to find who was making him that way, and now he's dead. As he fell, he was caught by the arms of someone else.

Jonas held him in his arms, "It's ok, Jordan," He said, "It's ok."


	15. Aftermath

Two months since the events of Homecoming, and all the events of the school have been cancelled. No football, no dances, no nothing. But that is not because of the disappearance of Roman Stratus. It is because of what happened to the bathroom. Nobody knows the two were connected, other than the stand users.

At a meeting after Homecoming night in Jonas's van, Jonas told them all what happened.

"Roman ambushed Jordan. Roman wasn't able to be de-cubed the way our enemies normally are. So, even after Jordan won, Roman kept attacking. In the fight, Roman's neck broke, and he died."

The one most devastated was Goth, of course. Her brother was responsible for terrible things, and was very much one of the worst people she knew, but she still remembered a time before that. She didn't want to talk to Jordan for a while, and as a byproduct, Melvin and Jordan began to hang out less than normal. Not that Goth was trying to keep them away from each other, but because Jordan's guilt interfered with it too much.

Jonas, with Jordan's permission, got rid of Roman's body. Jordan doesn't know how, but the situation is now just a disappearance. Roman had barely been showing up to class or interacting with his peers for almost a month before the official disappearance, so it seemed like a natural progression to some.

Still, Goth knew what happened as her family searched the town for answers, and never found any.

They debated erasing May's memory of the small stand fight she saw, but Jordan vetoed it. It seemed manipulative to him. May told him she didn't really care about what happened, and that she wanted to know if Jordan was ok. He stopped talking to her shortly after.

The Arrow was put in a drawer in the house Jonas had been staying at. He didn't want to leave until he was sure the root of the problem at Riverford was eliminated. But with Roman dead, there weren't any leads to go off.

Jordan had fun alone the way he did when he was younger: playing arcade games alone. He used his allowance to play _Super Ultra Death Fighters 3_ and fight the AI. At this point, he had mastered the game, and was trying to beat his record of how fast he could defeat the enemy AI at the hardest difficulty.

Once again, he easily defeated his enemy in 45 seconds. He had a hard time doing better. He began to get frustrated, trying again and again, spending more of his money. As he landed the last hit at 47 seconds, a voice interrupted him, "You're really just gonna play alone?"

May. Jordan sighed, frustrated that she kept trying to talk. Jordan groaned, "Yeah, I am."

Still, May walked closer, "You don't have to." She stood at the other side of the game, but Jordan refused to make eye contact.

Jordan wanted to say a lot, but knew he couldn't. He whispered, mostly to himself, "Oh, what you probably think I am."

May leaned closer, "Listen, whatever happened there, I understand."

Jordan shook his head.

"Roman wanted to kill you," She whispered, "So, you…" She paused, "You did what you had to do."

Jordan snapped his head to look at her, his teeth grinding together in frustration, "You think I'm a murderer?"

"No," She said, "I think you did what you had to do. Roman was a-"

"Roman was a normal kid!" Jordan found his voice rising, immediately looking down and quieting himself, "Roman was...If I…"

May looked at him, but his response let her know she was right. She whispered sharply, "I am the only one who knows. The only one. I know you don't want to talk, so I won't make you. But I think someday, you'll need to. That's all I'm going to say about it to you, and everyone else."

Jordan kept waiting for her to add something else, but she never did. She stood there, waiting. But she did ask a question.

"Do you want me to play _Death Fighters _with you or not? You seem bored fighting AI."

Jordan nodded, "I'd like that."

Jordan did need to talk about it, but he couldn't talk about it to her.

"Thanks for coming, Jojo," Jonas said. He was staying at a fellow Speedwagon Foundation employee's house. It was nice, and had everything Jonas needed to get by, which included a coffee maker and a large, round table, on which Jonas sat across from Jordan.

Jonas slid over some coffee, "I find coffee helps with emotional talks. Well, so does alcohol, but you're underage, and I don't partake, so coffee it is."

Jordan looked down at the incredibly creamy coffee, "Well...It's just that...this situation is kinda fucked-messed up." Jonas nodded and Jordan continued, "I just...I killed Roman. I don't know how to feel about that."

Jonas nodded, "I think you did what you had to do. But I understand it's hard when you kill someone."

Jordan paused. He knew Jonas had experience with stand battles, but he didn't know how much. Tentatively, he asked Jonas, "Have you...killed someone before?"

Jonas paused, "A few." He took a sip of the coffee, "Jordan...here's the thing. Stand users are drawn together by fate. And often, it's not in a good way."

Jordan sighed, "Yeah."

Jonas took a deep breath before explaining. He took another sip and rubbed his back. He never had to explain it to someone so young. "I...fought against the mafia. Not people controlled by a mysterious stand user. I was directed to find out how the Russian mafia was creating stand users. So I fought mafia members. Those guys, I can't punch in the head and make them my friends."

Jordan nodded, "So you killed a lot of them."

"Yes," Jonas admitted, "But I spared more than I killed. A lot of them knew when to go down and admit defeat." He gulped, "Others….couldn't learn. And if I didn't take them out…." He sipped his coffee, "I would be dead."

Jordan grinded his teeth, trying to keep his stress from spreading across his body. "But Roman wasn't in the mafia. If not for **99 Problems**, he would be a normal kid. And I didn't find a way to free him."

Jonas nodded, "Yes. It's his fault, not yours."

"What?" Jordan stammered, "But Roman-"

"Not Roman. **99 Problems**. His fault. He's the guy that needs to be punished."

Jordan took a deep breath and calmed down, "I know. It's just...my girlfriend thinks I killed him with, like...my bare hands. I just wish she could understand the whole situation." He slouched back.

Jonas raised an eyebrow, "Why don't you just tell her about stands?"

"Won't she think I'm crazy?"

Jonas shrugged, "She was not only teleported, but saw Roman go flying. Plus, it's not exactly hard to prove stands are real." He let go of the coffee cup, allowing **Rocket Man **to hold the cup, "To normal people, this cup would be floating. How else could they explain that?"

Jordan stammered, "But then won't she think _she's _crazy?"

"Jojo, Jojo, Jojo…" He leaned forward to him, "You are in a whole town of people with stands, and you have at least six stand users you can just call anytime you want. There's only so much confirmation you can have before you don't think you're crazy anymore."

About a day later, May and Jordan were playing a racing game at the arcade. The two games weren't connected, so they couldn't race each other, but they were competing to see who could get in a better place. They were on their fourth race, and May ahd come in first yet again while Jordan came in fourth.

"Damn it," Jordan sighed.

"Hey, don't feel bad," May smiled, "You're getting better. You might get to third place next time."

"Maybe," He said. He reached into his pocket to get more quarters, but when he pulled out his hand, he held nothing but air.

"Do you want to borrow some of mine?" May offered.

"No," Jordan sighed, "Actually, I want to...talk about something. It's about the thing."

May's eyes widened, but she retained her composure, "Oh. Do you want to talk about it here?"

"There is nobody here," Jordan said, "It's just us. Besides, I won't mention anything...incriminating, I guess."

May stared at him.

"So...do you remember what happened at the dance?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah…"

"Ok, well, see if you can remember something for me. You gave me your phone because I wanted to call Jonas, right?"

May blinked, "Umm. Yeah."

"And then what happened?"

May thought for a moment, "Roman got a hold of me. Somehow."

"Yeah," Jordan said, "But how?"

May thought once again. "I don't really remember. Do you?"

"Well, yeah," Jordan said, "I actually know exactly how he got you. And in order to show you how, I am going to demonstrate something." Jordan stood up from the fake driving seat, and held up his phone. "In a few seconds, this is going to float in mid-air. Don't freak out when it does."

Jordan let go of the phone, and it floated exactly where he was holding it. Somehow, May was not impressed. "This a magic trick?" She asked, "He got me with...misdirection?"

"No," Jordan said, "It's not a trick. It's really floating. You can give me another object, and I can make that float, too. But not more than two."

"This still sounds like a magic trick."

"It's-" Jordan stammered, "Look at this," the phone moved up and down in the air without Jordan moving his arms.

May rubbed her eyes from under her glasses, "Jordan, is the point of this to tell me that you have psychic powers? Is that really where we're going with this?"

"No," Jordan said, "I'm telling you that the manifestation of my fighting spirit has been given a body in the form of what is called a 'stand' and only other people with a stand can see my stand."

"That sounds convenient."

"It is!" Jordan exclaimed, "It's actually very convenient! Literally anything you want me to do with it to prove to you that it is real, I will do."

May raised an eyebrow, "Anything?"

"Yeah," Jordan asserted.

May reached out her hand toward Jordan, "Have it shake my hand then."

"Done."

The phone dropped into Jordan's hand, and in a few seconds, May felt a pressure on her skin. She looked at her hand, and saw nothing. As she curled her fingers, she felt the distinct presence of a human, or at least human-esque, hand. She stared at it, perplexed, hoping to see something. But it wasn't there.

"Incredible," She said, "So...Roman had one of these?"

**Champion **let go of May's hand. Jordan replied, "Yep. His stand had the power to teleport things. Most stands have unique powers other than just being a loyal ghost. Stands have names, too."

"What's yours called?" May asked.

"**Champion**. My friends have stands, too. Melvin's is named **Shiny Toys**, Donny's is named **Skate or Die**, Goth's is **Careless Whisper**, and Jonas's is **Rocket Man**."

"So how do you get a stand?"

"I was born with it, but most people get stabbed with a magic arrow and get one when they survive."

"Oh…" She nodded, "Can I...have one?"

Jordan blinked, "Uhh...what?"

"Can I have one?"

Jordan broke eye contact, and his eyes darted across the floor, "I don't...I don't really decide that."

"So...you have cool powers...and I just sit here while I watch you have them?"

Jordan rubbed his neck, "It feels kind of mean when you put it like that. But I can't just stab you and hope you live."

May shrugged, "I could stab myse-"

"Don't say that!"

"I'm just saying! I could!"

Jordan scoffed, "Wha-what if you don't survive? You have to have high resolve if you're going to survive the arrow."

"And I don't?"

"I, honest to god, don't even know what resolve means because I never bothered to ask!" He rubbed his head in frustration, "Besides, it's not fun to have one of these. I've almost died, like, six times this year alone because I live in a town with other stand users. There is a stand user with a super-stand that's brainwashing people into trying to kill me, and I had begun to assume everyone trying to get to know me was trying to kill me!"

Jordan got pretty heated, and May began to lean back as his anger got more extreme. When Jordan was done, May said, "It makes so much sense now. That's why you acted the way you did."

May stood up, and wrapped her arms around Jordan in a tight hug, "I'm sorry you had to go through that." When Jordan returned the hug, she continued, "I'm sorry for...assuming having superpowers is fun, I guess."

"I guess it seems more fun if you weren't born with it," Jordan admitted.

Minutes of silence passed before May asked, "So can I have a stand _after _you beat the brainwashing guy?"


End file.
